Ethan Fitzgerald and Ethan Lynne have several commonalities. They share a first name. They are both sophomores. And they are both students in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS).
Add one more, as of Saturday afternoon.
The Ethans were elected to hold the George Washington University’s Student Government Association’s (SGA) highest offices during the 2024-2025 academic year as Fitzgerald was elected president, while Lynne secured the vice presidency. A total of 3,153 GW students voted in this year’s election, up nearly 1,000 voters from last spring’s election.
Fitzgerald, a political science and organizational science double major from San Diego, won in a tight race after capturing 50.3% of the vote in the fourth round of ranked choice voting tabulation, according to the Joint Election Commission.
He described receiving the news of his win on Saturday as “surreal” to see the work he and his campaign team poured in paying off for a place at the pinnacle of SGA.
“It was just immense excitement,” he said.
Fitzgerald brings to the presidency a wealth of experience in student governmental roles throughout his life. He was the student body president of his high school in Southern California that housed nearly 2,000 students, where he said that experience gave him a community on campus while also allowing him to see the ability to create meaningful change.
At GW, Fitzgerald served this past academic year as an undergraduate SGA senator from CCAS and said that having that experience, especially learning how to effectively communicate with both students and administration, will pay dividends as he ascends to the presidency.
That includes his work with student organizations, as Fitzgerald believes one of GW’s biggest strengths is its plethora of sanctioned opportunities for students to be involved with something outside of the classroom, and one of his presidential pursuits will be to bring those organizations into meaningful conversations with SGA.
“I really just want to make sure that people see that we have a student government and organization that can effectively advocate, and I plan to supercharge the advocacy on day one,” Fitzgerald said.
Lynne, a sophomore political communication major from Ashland, Virginia, seemed destined to serve in a governing role from a young age. His great grandfather was once the mayor of his hometown of Ashland. “His presence definitely inspired me to always be akin to service,” he said. Lynne, himself, began politically canvassing at the age of 10 years old.
And if that wasn’t convincing enough, his tour guide while he was visiting the university still as a high school student? Former SGA vice president Kate Carpenter, B.S. ’23.
He has been active since he stepped foot on GW’s campus, as Lynne was the student president of Thurston Hall during his first year, and he is currently student president of Shenkman Hall. Like Fitzgerald, Lynne is also an undergraduate SGA senator representing CCAS, and he chairs the finance committee.
Lynne received 54.1% of the vice-presidential vote in the first and only round of voting for the position. His early involvement in student leadership roles, where he has gotten to know many people within the GW community, motivated him to pursue the SGA vice presidency.
“I'm just super excited to now get to remain in a position where I can advocate and work on making changes to better the student body,” said Lynne.
Fitzgerald and Lynne, who will both be juniors academically in 2024-2025, will assume their roles at the end of this academic year from current president Arielle Geismar and vice president Demetrius Apostolis.
