Samuel Tran Wins SBP Race, Says He’s “Relieved”

Empire State Building, NEW YORK—Samuel Tran (’14) was announced as the winner of the race for Student Body President at noon Wednesday, Feb. 22, beating candidates Caz Crane (’13) and David Dantzler (’13). Tran secured 54 percent of the vote, with Crane and Dantzler earning 32 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Sixty-six percent of the student body (282 students of 427) voted in the election.

Chad Abbott, a fellow Bonhoeffer to Tran, posted a video of the announcement.

As midterms approach, Tran was glad he no longer has to deal with the stress of waiting to hear who won.

"I feel really relieved,” Tran said.

For his first action as SBP, Tran plans to survey King’s students, asking them if they would recommend TKC to prospective students and why.  He will then ascertain the most common reasons that students would not recommend King’s and will try to address those issues.

Candidate Caz Crane also expressed relief about the race, saying he felt “so happy.”

Crane added that, if God had wanted him to be SBP, he would have done his best, but said, “I think Sam is going to do a really good job, and I’m glad that the whole discussion about the school took place during the SBP debates.”

In his platform, Tran had focused largely on furthering City Engagement and increasing student involvement.  He believes City Engagement is a fundamental part of the school.

Many students reacted positively to the election results, emphasizing their support for Tran’s “Get Out” platform and his desire to become more involved in the city.

Jesse Kruger (’15) likes the idea of “Getting Out,” because he feels that “King’s needs to engage the city more as a school, and having an SBP who takes that seriously will really help.”

Nikki Altman (’15) agreed, adding that she also likes Tran’s plan to encourage the creation of more foreign language classes.

While students seem positive about Tran’s focus, they hope he will integrate some of the other candidates’ main ideas into his plans.

“I think for the student body to ‘Get Out,’ it is crucial that it be unified, which was something I really liked about Caz’s platform,” Heather Cate (’15) said.

While Crane also liked Tran’s platform, Crane stressed the importance of fellow candidate Dantzler’s focus on the fortification of academics.

Tran congratulated Crane and Dantzler on a job well done, saying he “really enjoyed their speeches and debates—their campaigns were fantastic.”