The Allegheny Student Government swore in a new president and vice president and approved eight members of next year’s cabinet at the final General Assembly on Tuesday, April 23. ASG also heard farewell messages from its outgoing president, adviser and the college president
Much of the meeting was taken up by the transition of power. Just before handing her office over, outgoing ASG President Nicole Recio Bremer, ’25, offered a few final remarks as head of student government.
“I want to say how grateful I am for everyone’s hard work this year,” Recio Bremer said. “I know it was a hard year for everyone in different ways, and so I thank everyone for that. I thank my cabinet members who were always having my back and for all your hard work, and seniors, we’re going to miss you next year; thank you for all you leave behind.”
After swearing in new Vice President Ray Colabawalla, ’25, and her cabinet, incoming ASG President Ella DeRose, ’27, said that being elected president was “the biggest honor” she had received so far.
“I promise you that ASG will remain a forum for everyone to be represented,” DeRose said. “If anything, let this presidency, let this cabinet be a message of hope that everyone’s voice matters, that as ASG, we’re here to listen to those voices and those ideas and that this institution will continue to work toward a brighter future for Allegheny students.”

Cabinet nominees
The main event of the night was the nomination and approval of DeRose and Colabawalla’s cabinet.
The first nominee was Senator Chezka Therese Quinola, ’27, for attorney general. Quinola cited her work this year on the Rules Committee as why she applied to the role, adding that she hopes to use the attorney general’s control over club constitutions to invite more students to pursue their interests.
Next was Senator Aidan McGrory, ’26, for director of sustainability and environmental affairs. McGrory, an Environmental Science and Sustainability major, said he wanted to work with incoming dining service provider Parkhurst to limit food waste by cutting down on the amount of food produced. Another priority McGrory identified was working to further shrink Allegheny’s carbon footprint; he noted that the school achieved its net-zero rating through the use of “carbon credits” and proposed working to add more solar panels to campus and motion-detecting lights to further reduce energy consumption.
There were two nominees for the co-directorships of Student Affairs. The first, Ben Keefer, ’27, said he had seen a lot from “the regular student side” and wants to foster greater connections between the student body and ASG and develop further mental health resources for students on campus.
The second nominee, Senator Kyra Jordan, ’25, said she wants to further promote connections between students and faculty, as well as use of the Engage platform. Both nominees said they also want to continue the work of Iris Styers, ’26, and London Dejarnette, ’24, who led Student Affairs this year in providing sexual health resources and working on food insecurity.
Returning to lead ASG’s diversity and inclusion department will be current Director of Diversity and Inclusion Kaleialoha Froning, ’25. Froning cited her work this year with the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as why she reapplied, adding that she wants to continue working on a land acknowledgement statement for the college.
The nominee for director of Community Relations was another familiar face. Hunter Goerman, ’25, said he has worked with the college’s civic engagement office and in Meadville over the last few years, and that he wants to continue building connections between the college and the city.
Goerman is returning to cabinet six months after leaving it; he served as ASG treasurer before abruptly resigning last October, kicking off a public debate about the workload of ASG cabinet members. ASG’s Senate shot down Goerman’s replacement before splitting the treasurer’s position in two with a constitutional amendment in December. The two newly-created positions were not filled for another two and a half months.
In a March interview, outgoing Co-Director of Student Affairs London Dejarnette, ’24, alleged that Goerman had repeatedly said his workload as treasurer was too heavy and that he needed more support. ASG leadership has remained publicly quiet about Goerman’s departure, while Goerman himself declined to comment on why he left.
“This is something that happened in October, the people who were involved are aware of what transpired and I do not feel the need to publicly state why,” Goerman wrote in an email Thursday afternoon. “At the end of the day it was for the best, it was not a position that was right for me.”
As for his return, Goerman wrote that the community relations portfolio aligns more closely with the civic work and summer research he has been doing over the last few years
“This is something that I hold close to my heart and is more in my wheelhouse than finance,” Goerman wrote.
Anh Nguyen, ’25, was nominated to lead ASG’s Communications and Press portfolio. A Communication Arts major focusing on Media Management, Nguyen said she took a break from ASG this year — having served as a senator last year — and is looking forward to returning to ASG.
Nguyen received the only “No” vote of the night, from Senator Arilyn Hicks, ’24. Hicks did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The final nominee was Joe Leszczynski, ’25, for chief of staff. Citing two years as an ASG class senator and terms as president of the sophomore honors society and the Newman Catholic Campus Ministry, Leszczynski said he knew how student organizations worked on campus and wanted to use that knowledge to support members of ASG.
No nominees were put forward to be parliamentarian or director of organizational development. Also notably missing were any nominees for either of ASG’s finance positions.
“There were no applicants for the finance positions,” DeRose said in an interview after the meeting. “What we’re really focusing on now and throughout the summer is garnering that interest from the people who have been involved in finance. The next step’s really going into classes — econ department, finance, things like that — to find people who may be interested.”
In the same interview, Colabawalla expressed faith in the return of individual club budgets, which he said would soften the absence of dedicated treasurers in cabinet.
“Ultimately next year, there’s going to be budgets brought back, so it’s not like we’re going to, per se, need a director of finance and treasury on day one of the job, but we will have one regardless,” Colabawalla said.
ASG will put out a club budget application by the end of this semester before holding budget hearings in the first week of classes in the fall, according to DeRose, who noted that financial guidelines and processes will be changing from this year to next year.
At the end of the day, Colabawalla said student leaders should not be concerned about receiving financial support next year.
“I would not be worried about not getting my club budget or getting club funding because there isn’t a director of finance or a director of treasury, because those decisions don’t rest solely on those two positions,” Colabawalla said.

Senior sendoff
In addition to inaugurating a new president and cabinet, ASG bid farewell to its seven seniors — Dejarnette, Class of 2024 President Sasha Holguin, Senator Arilyn Hicks, outgoing Attorney General Will Lowthert, outgoing Director of Community Relations Cam Lesher, outgoing Parliamentarian Ankitha Pamula, and outgoing Director of the Treasury Lyndsey Robinson.
Yeckley told the assembly that they were gifting each senior a keychain — something one of Yeckley’s bosses at their undergraduate alma mater of the University of California Irvine did when they graduated 18 years ago.
“This is so that, no matter where you go, whether it’s your first apartment out of college, your first car, your first job that you get your keys to, your first whatever — that your undergrad is always going to be a part of it,” Yeckley said, noting that their UC Irvine keychain is still a touchstone hanging in their office in the Student Life suite.
In addition to the keychains, Yeckley handed out graduation stoles to each of the seniors.
ASG also heard from President Ron Cole, ’87, who announced that Recio Bremer would speak at commencement as part of an effort to improve ASG’s visibility on campus.
“In other words, the student experience is bookended; when you start it as a student at Allegheny during matriculation, you hear from the student leadership, the president of ASG,” Cole said. “When you graduate from Allegheny, you hear from student leadership … the outgoing president of ASG.”
More broadly, Cole offered comments on student leadership and its place at Allegheny.
“Leadership is messy — that’s OK,” Cole said. “Trust is built up with small increments, small steps and I see that happening, I’ve seen that happen over the last couple of years. I’ve felt it as president here, working with members of ASG, others across the student body.”
At the end of the day, Cole said, his desire is to see a stronger ASG involved in campus conversations.
“My hope is that, over time, ASG will more and more be felt as the representatives of this campus, of the student body,” Cole said. “I’m trying to promote that, I’d like to see that happen more regularly, because that is the best way — I believe — that we’re going to make change for the better of everyone.”