On Sept. 27, Calvin’s Student Senate announced its 2024-2025 Freshman team; led by Kofi Nyarko, the team includes Scarlett Tilburt, Ponjul Shedul, Maria Martin Diaz, Sydney Casey, Megan Streit, and Alejandro Burns. 

Due to the Senate’s constitutional revisions in February 2024, this year’s freshmen team is the first to be entirely appointed through an application and interview process, rather than an election. 

“Team Freshmen aims to create meaningful change by amplifying student voices and driving projects that enhance the Calvin community. We’re committed to ensuring every step we take reflects the needs and aspirations of our peers,” freshmen team leader Nyarko wrote in the Senate’s Instagram announcement. 

This past week, Chimes talked to three of the freshmen senators — Streit, Tilburt, and Diaz — about their backgrounds and hopes for the future. These conversations have been edited for length and clarity.

Megan Streit

  Megan Streit is from Chicago, Illinois, and is passionate about music, education, and community service. She said she loves “giving back to the community, working with people, seeing problems, and fixing them.” 

Streit is pursuing a career in education and views her involvement in the Student Senate in light of that. “As a teacher, you’re working with a wide variety of people, and I think that’s something that the Senate will encounter on a regular basis,” she said. 

Streit shared that the Freshman Team has noticed a lack of trash cans and recycling bins around campus, and they’re eager to address this issue by expanding the availability of said resources. She also discussed an intriguing project proposed by a student: “Something that I would be interested in doing is partnering with an animal shelter and having the animals come here so they get some attention and students who miss their pets can hang out with them.”

When asked how she hopes to be remembered in college, Streit reflected, “I want to be more known for the community that I helped cultivate. So hopefully I’m someone that is positive and involved on campus, was open to listening, and made a difference.” She credits her mom and her high school dean, Jim Kelly, as key influences in her life, helping shape her into the person she is today.

Fun Fact: Streit has had the opportunity to perform at Disney and sing the national anthem in an airplane, at a rodeo, and in Washington D.C. She also sang the national anthem for Calvin’s Women’s volleyball game on October 11th.

Scarlett Tilburt

Scarlett Tilburt is from Phoenix, Arizona, and likes listening to podcasts (particularly NPR), spending time with her dog, hanging out with friends, and being outdoors. Tilburt chose Calvin because of its Christian environment, academic rigor, and proximity to family members. 

Outside of the Student Senate, she participates in the Women’s Chorale. 

Tilburt was inspired to join the Student Senate because of the positive experience she had with the Student Government during her junior year of high school. “I felt like I was really impacting the student experience,” she reflected.

Tilburt expressed her excitement at bringing a fresh perspective to the Senate as someone who’s lived on the other side of the country. When discussing what she hopes to accomplish while in the Senate, Tilburt emphasized highlighting underappreciated academic programs, particularly the arts. “How can we incentivize these programs that are less well-known and deserve love and attention too?” As someone interested in pursuing law or public policy, Tilburt reflected on how participating in the Student Senate will assist her in her career. 

“I will have to practice listening to the voices of students around me — like the whispering, ‘That’s annoying,’ or ‘That needs to be fixed,’ — and bringing that to the Senate to see how we can help resolve those issues,” Tilburt said. 

 When asked what she wants her legacy at Calvin to be, Tilburt answered, “I hope people remember me as someone who listens and tries to solve problems but also not always trying to solve problems, and instead trying to hear people out and just generally be a kind person.”

Tilburt thanks her older brother, an alumni, for encouraging her to attend Calvin, as well as her various cousins that attend Calvin and her family who helped her throughout the application process. 

Fun Fact: Tilburt spent a semester of her junior year in high school in Washington D.C. as a senate page. “I sat on the floor every day, got senators’ waters and copy papers, and just got to experience the world of politics.”

Maria Martin Diaz

 Maria Martin Diaz was born and raised in Spain and moved to the U.S. in August of 2024. In her free time, she likes hanging out with her friends, dancing, watching T.V., and learning languages (she’s currently studying Korean). In the future, Martín Diaz hopes to work for the Department of Education or in higher education. She says she joined the Student Senate to learn about organizations such as student government (something that doesn’t exist in Spain) and the struggles and issues Calvin students may face. 

When asked what she hopes to accomplish while in the Student Senate, Martín Diaz said she wants to focus on making the Senate as approachable as possible. “I try to talk to as many people as I can, to try to make the student body see that we’re just students,” she reflected. “They have issues, and we face those issues too. I hope to make them feel welcome to come talk to me at any point.” 

Martín Diaz reflected that participating in the Student Senate would give her a good overview of the daily lives and challenges of students. When asked what legacy she wanted to leave behind at college, Martín Diaz said, “Rather than remembering me, I would prefer people just remember my work, like a project that really affects students that they can see and be like, ‘Oh, do you remember when this changed?’ and see how far things have come.”

Martín Diaz credits the scholarship program in Spain that allowed her to come to America with helping her get where she is today, as well as her tutor Hertha Torres, a recent graduate from UPenn, who helped her during her college application process.

Fun Fact: Martín Diaz used to be a competitive dancer and spent most of her time dancing until her sophomore year of high school. She stopped doing competitions in 2021, after her team made it to Spain’s national competition and ended up winning second place.

Going Forward

As Calvin’s campus comes alive with the biggest incoming class in a decade the freshmen are ready to make their mark in the Student Senate and beyond. Team Freshmen is coming in with unique and interesting ideas to contribute,foster a sense of community among the class of 2028 and across campus.