Grand Valley State University has sworn in a new Student Senate president and vice president following the 2026 election. 

Former Allocations Chair Lukas Hartley now serves as president and Former Public Relations Chair Sophie Gemmen serves as vice president. The two spoke with the Lanthorn following the election, sharing their past experiences, as well as their hopes and goals for the new term.

Hartley hopes to build on the work of previous President Evan Jackson and Vice President Ty Vanlerberghe.

“Our outgoing executives (Jackson and Vanlerberghe) were a big inspiration,” Hartley said. “They did an amazing job and to be able to follow that up will be really cool.” 

Both candidates ran uncontested, giving them time to mentally prepare for their new roles with the support of the senate.

“We’ve heard only positive feedback from the people we’ve talked to and that has made me hopeful of being able to know that others around me trust us,” Gemmen said. 

Both hope to continue to emphasize collaboration with organizations and departments across campus. 

“We all have very diverse backgrounds, different interests, majors, high school experiences and future goals, but because we all focus on that same passion, it makes it easy to work with everyone,” Gemmen said. “That’s something I hope to continue in my leadership.”

Hartley and Gemmen are the only two cabinet members returning for the upcoming year, and with many new student senators coming in, Hartley expressed excitement.

“We have quite a few new faces in the room, which is awesome,” Hartley said. “The fact that they were willing to take the initiative, get the votes, get a spot and now be here means they’re going to bring amazing stuff to our body.” 

With past experience in the senate, both hope to support new and returning members alike as they prepare to become mentors themselves. 

“I’m really excited to watch our next generation of cabinet leaders grow and develop, and be the steward of that,” Hartley said. “I was in their shoes last year as a first-time cabinet member. Now, it’ll be a really cool experience to be on the other side of that and be able to watch them grow.”

Gemmen shared similar sentiments, reiterating the University’s student government is in good hands.

“For our current senators and new senators who just joined us, I’d like to remind them they are here for a reason,” Gemmen said. “They have taken the initiative and have shown their passion with such good ideas. They have the skills necessary to affect campus.”

In his term, Hartley hopes to strengthen support for student organizations with more education around policies. As allocations chair, Hartley said student organizations were sometimes denied funding due to preventable misunderstandings, something he hopes to improve in the future.

“Further supporting student organizations is one of my big priorities,” Hartley said. “One of the biggest issues we ran into was a lack of knowledge. I want to create more centralized resources with better education around policies. No one wants to come in and get denied, but at the end of the day, policies are policies so I think more pre-education before meetings would be beneficial.” 

Gemmen said her focus for the term is to strengthen internal operational structures within student government. 

“Finding ways to make (senators’) ideas a reality and being able to communicate with all of our senators is something I am interested in,” Gemmen said. “How can we make this the most effective process while making sure everyone is represented?”

Hartley closed by offering words of encouragement to students who are considering getting involved in student government. 

“Be present, make your voice heard, speak out,” Hartley said. “It takes time, especially for new senators on the body. I was in their shoes and it takes time to get used to speaking up in a room of 50 people where the conversation is about real, tangible things.” 

Hartley’s invitation extends not only to current student senators, but to the student body and wider community. The Student Senate holds public General Assembly meetings every Thursday on the Valley Campus.