Student Government hosted its first meeting of the new Senate Wednesday, where the new Senate was seated and members were confirmed.

To begin the meeting, outgoing Speaker Cody Woodruff swore in the new Senate.

Outgoing Vice Speaker Kelsey Culbertson was nominated to serve the speaker of the Senate, which she accepted. Culbertson has served as a College of Agriculture and Life Science senator for the previous two years.

Culbertson was confirmed by unanimous affirmation.

Sens. Sandeep Stanley, Jacob Ludwig, Jacob Schrader and Zach Mass were nominated to serve as the vice speaker of the Senate, which they accepted.

Schrader has served as a senator for the previous three years and has served as a civic engagement committee member. He said he plans to empower senators as well as the student body, work with mentor-mentee matching and reform the judicial branch.

Stanley has served as a senator for the previous three years. He said he plans to improve the relationship between the university and the Ames community, through a celebration to bring students and community members together, as well as working on communication between the Cabinet and the Senate.

Ludwig has not previously served as a senator and currently serves as a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator. He said he plans to make a more stable environment within Student Government, grow Student Government’s presence on campus and grow deeper ties with organizations on campus.

Mass has served on the past Senate cycle for the spring semester. He said he planned to “revamp” the onboarding process for new senators and make it easier for students to get involved with and feel connect with Student Government.

Schrader received a majority vote and was confirmed with unanimous affirmation.

Sens. Stanley, Kaitlyn Rolling and Noah Heasley nominated to serve as chair of the student initiatives committee, which they accepted.

Heasley has previously served on Student Government as a senator, and said he plans to actively seek out people with “good ideas” and help them get their ideas implemented.

Stanley said he planned to continue previous Chair Wyatt Scheu’s practices, as well as working closely with the Ames City Council to implement change and collaborating with the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Rolling has previously served as the clerk of the senate, and served as an at-large member of the student initiatives committee. She said she planned to act as a resource for other senators to help them with in their initiatives and obtain other needed information to complete projects.

Rolling received the majority vote and was confirmed with unanimous affirmation.

Sens. Tony Tonet and Taylor Blair were nominated to serve as the civic engagement committee chair, which they accepted.

Blair said he plans to better connect students to the 2020 caucuses and improve student turnout. The census will occur during the next school year and Blair said he plans to encourage all students to fill out the census to ensure Ames can receive proper funding.

Tonet said that he plans plans to utilize the non-voting members of civic engagement to promote student government, team up with the public relations committee to improve Student Government’s presence on campus and create more projects within civic engagement.

Tonet received the majority vote and was confirmed with unanimous affirmation.

Tonet has previously served as an at-large member of the civic engagement committee.

The Senate also confirm President Austin Graber and Vice President Vishesh Bhatia’s nominees to the CyRide Board of Trustees, chief of staff, the finance director and the treasurer.

Chase Kusel, a junior in public relations, was confirmed to serve as Graber and Bhatia’s chief of staff. Kusel served one year previously as the senior director of public relations.

Kusel was confirmed by a vote of 28-1-1.

Madison Mueller, a senior in agricultural business, was confirmed to serve as the finance director. She has previously served as a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences senator as well as on the finance committee.

Muller was confirmed by unanimous consent.

Juan Bibiloni, a senior in mechanical engineering, was confirmed to sit on the CyRide Board of Trustees. Bibiloni has previously served as vice president and a senator in Student Government.

Bibiloni was confirmed by unanimous consent.

Lucy Dougherty, a senior in economics, has previously served on the finance committee and was confirmed to serve as the treasurer.

Dougherty was confirmed by unanimous consent.

Ryan Hillier, a junior in computer engineering, was nominated to serve as the clerk.

Hillier was confirmed by unanimous consent.

Schrader was nominated to serve on the CyRide Board of Trustees, which he accepted, and was confirmed with unanimous affirmation.

For more information or to contact your senator, visit stugov.iastate.edu. The senate meetings are open to the public at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union.