Seniors Select First and Second Marshals

UPDATED: September 20, 2015, at 9:15 p.m.

Choosing from a field of 51 declared candidates, nearly 1,000 College seniors voted this week to elect two of their peers, Reylon A. Yount ’16 and Jessica A. Barzilay ’16, to represent them in the positions of first and second class marshal, respectively.

Yount lives in Lowell House and is studying East Asian Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy; Barzilay, a Crimson news editor, lives in Dunster House and studies History and Science.

Election results were released Friday morning in an email to members of the senior class, but Yount and Barzilay were notified of their win by phone on Thursday.

“There were so many awesome people running for class marshal, I didn’t really give any thought to the potential of winning,” Barzilay said.

The first and second marshal are analogous to class president and vice president, according to the Harvard Alumni Association. The pair is now tasked with managing the Senior Class Committee, serving as spokespeople for the Class of 2016, soliciting donations for the annual Senior Gift fund, and coordinating programming, among other responsibilities.

“I definitely think a lot of the plans and ideas are going to come from other seniors and conversations with program marshals,” Yount said. “I think the most important thing is going to be having a variety of social events that are inclusive and fun.”

Barzilay and Yount, who only knew each other “in passing” prior to this, both highlighted plans aimed at bringing their class together as their final year at Harvard progresses.

“We’re united in our positive experience of getting to know so many people over the past three years and really looking forward to continuing to meet people and also spending some quality time as our last months at Harvard approach,” Barzilay said.

Students will elect six more class representatives, called program marshals, in a voting period scheduled for Tuesday. In previous years, first, second, and program marshals were elected from the same pool of applicants in the same round of voting.

—Staff writer R. Blake Paterson can be reached at blake.paterson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @BlakePat95.