A new student member has been selected for the UVM board of trustees, to follow out-going student trustee Samantha Lucas.

The board of trustees student selection committee publicly announced Soraiya Thura, a second-year in the College of Medicine, as their choice Feb. 1, SGA President Jason Maulucci said.

Each year the committee is responsible for choosing a student trustee who will serve a two-year term. Thura will serve alongside fellow student trustee, junior David Brandt.

A student trustee is a full voting member on the board of trustees and uses their experience as a student to make deci- sions with the board, according to a Nov. 11 Cynic article.

Thura is originally from Falls Church, Virginia and graduated magna cum laude with university honors from Virginia Commonwealth University.

She has a B.S. in economics and a minor in chemistry.

Thura holds many leadership positions in numerous organizations at UVM. Thura is a class representative on the Dean’s Advisory Committee on Diversity Inclusion at the College of Medicine.

She is also involved with the UVM College of Medicine Social Justice Coalition, as well as UVM’s Chapters of the American Medical Women’s Association and American Medical Association.

“I’m interested and passionate about diversity and cultural competence in medicine and the environment for students on campus,” Thura said.

She said she first heard about the student trustee position earlier in the school year at an executive board meeting at the College of Medicine.

All interested students must attend three informational sessions before filling out an application, which is due in early January. After the applications are received, only 10 applicants are selected for the interview portion.

“This year we received more interest and more applicants than we’ve seen in many, many years, maybe over a decade,” Maulucci said. “The pool was incredibly talented, and Soraiya kind of blew us away.”

After two consecutive days of interviewing, Thura was selected to be the new student trustee.

Thura said she has many goals for her new position, but one of her main hopes is to create more unity within the student body between graduate students, medical students and undergraduates.

“I really want to show that we, the grad students and med students on campus, are also important,” she said.

Student Trustee David Brandt said he is sad to see current student trustee Samantha

Lucas go, but is looking forward to working with Thura.

“I think she is going to be an ideal person for the job,” Brandt said.

He said student trustees bring both an on-campus and student-based perspective to the board, but do not represent students specifically.