Advocating for students, especially those preparing for graduation and residency in 2022, is the top priority for Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s newly elected Student Government President, Anant Naik (Class of 22).
Naik was elected by his peers to serve as student body president for the 2021 calendar year. Now, he hopes to help establish effective policies and procedures for Carle Illinois’ first residency ‘match’ cycle. “The biggest priority for me is to ensure that our rising fourth-year students have a clear line of communication and the resources they need to apply for residency.”
The first residency placement match cycle for Carle Illinois’ inaugural graduating class (Class of 2022) will mark an important milestone, and Naik wants to ensure strong processes are in place because they will set important precedents for graduating classes that follow.
Naik said he also expects the 2021 student government to play a role in the transition back to in-person instruction. “Another priority is to ensure that we have a smooth transition to in-person education as the vaccines for COVID become more accessible, whenever that happens,” said Naik. “I look forward to working with everyone to help achieve these priorities.”
Student government serves as a liaison to the faculty and administration and provides input on matters affecting education and wellness.
Outgoing Student Government President Bailey MacInnis says one of the biggest accomplishments of the outgoing student leaders is increasing communication between the student body and the administration, even when channels became virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions. MacInnis – who will continue a role in student government representing the graduating class of 2023 – sees uniting the Carle Illinois student body as key. “We have done our best to stay connected with appropriate social distancing measures, but especially for our new class of students, it hasn’t been easy. I hope that moving forward, we can improve on this effort, hopefully with some loosened social distancing guidelines as we move forward to 2021,” MacInnis said.
MacInnis said she enjoyed the opportunity to serve and to learn about the inner workings of the college. “I got to participate as a stakeholder for hiring some new staff, see how internal policies are changed, and better understand how budget decisions are made. It is amazing the hard work that has gone into the first three years of our college and the hard work that continues to push us forward,” MacInnis said.
The following students were elected to student government positions for terms starting January 1, 2021:
President: Anant Naik
Vice President: Nick (Robert) Tucker
Treasurer: Keith Cordner
Secretary: vacancy
Events Chairs: Richie Li and Diana Wu
Outreach Chair: Eric Moran
Wellness Chair: Adam Sonnenberg
Marketing Chair: Dara Nafiu
Class of 2022 Representatives: Alex Lucas and Andrew Chang
Class of 2023 Representatives: Bailey MacInnis and Kanesha Overton
Class of 2024 Representatives: Suzy Kwok and Sindhu Parupalli
Class of 2024 Organization of Student Representatives for the Association of American Medical Colleges (multi-year term): Deepak Lakshmipathy
All officers except the Student Representative for the AAMC were elected to one-year terms. The OSR for the AAMC is elected to represent that graduating class throughout their time in medical school.
The office of student government secretary is still vacant. Naik said there’s an effort underway to fill that position, but in the meantime, the rest of the student government team will absorb those duties.
Student government is expected to coordinate a meeting to hand over responsibilities to the new office holders sometime in January 2021.