Lidia Qaladh and Bernadette Maramis.
Lidia Qaladh and Bernadette Maramis.

Bucknell, Pepperdine Posse Scholars Serve as First-Year Class Presidents

Winter 2020 | Los Angeles

Two Posse Scholar first-years, Bucknell University’s Bernadette Maramis and Pepperdine University’s Lidia Qaladh, have been elected class president of their respective school communities.

Despite the limitations of student government campaigns due to COVID-19 precautions and campus closures, Bernadette and Lidia each took care to leverage digital spaces to be elected as freshman class represenatives. Though far away from a physical campus, the Scholars were able to reach out to peers in online spaces. Their goal is to provide continued leadership for their classmates in innovative ways.

“Posse prepared us to take on leadership roles on campus, to take advantage of the opportunities that awaited us.”

“Posse prepared us to take on leadership roles on campus, to take advantage of the opportunities that awaited us,” says Bernadette, who remains excited about the potential of seeing her Posse together on campus by the end of their first year. In addition to planning virtual and future in-person events, Bernie intends to use her platform to be a voice for students of color on campus.

It was during virtual Pre-Collegiate Training that Lidia realized she wanted to take on a hands-on role to support her peers at Pepperdine, an intention only deepened when she received news that her first year on campus would likely be entirely remote. Lidia says she has already utilized tools she learned during PCT in service of her fellow students.

“As freshman class president I want to bring about a bond, a sense of community even if we are all at home,” Lidia says.