Every year at Essex High School, students vote for the new student body president and vice president. To win the election, you must have at least 40% of the student votes. If there is no one with 40% or higher, a runoff election takes place between the top two candidates.
On Friday, April 18th, the presidential runoff took place among the Student Government senators. Out of the nine candidates that ran, it was between Sam Curtiss and Sam Houghton, and Greg Maiberger and Finnian Reilly.
The results of the runoff election were 36 to 13 with Greg Maiberger winning the presidential nomination, alongside vice-president elect Finnian Reilly for the 2025-2026 school year.
Greg Maiberger is a three-year Student Government member and was the Speaker of the Senate for the 2024-2025 school year. Maiberger is a member of the National Honor Society, a student leader of Circle of Friends, web engineer and staff writer for The Hive, and is a part of Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. For athletics, Maiberger is a part of the varsity volleyball team and varsity track and field team. He enjoys the outdoors where he skies, hikes, and loves to explore.
Finnian Reilly plays volleyball at EHS. He also runs track, is an avid skier, mountain biker, hiker, and adventurer. He is also a part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Academy, Environmental Club, Athletic Leadership Council, and Student Government.
“Both Finnian and I feel proud that the students believe in us enough to have elected us as president and vice president,” Maiberger said. “We know that students have elected us based on both our policy goals and our character, so we are excited to start checking goals off our list while also still being available to support the students’ ideas.”
The candidates identified an important issue during their campaigns, one being restoring rice to the menu on Taco Day.
“This is something that we found was a controversial issue during our campaigning. We hear a lot of people saying that they want to bring rice back to Taco Days, and a lot of others saying that they like corn,”Maiberger said. “Scott Fay also expressed interest in more feedback from students because right now, the cafeteria doesn’t receive much, so they just keep making what they have been. Finnian and I encourage anyone with feedback about school meals to reach out to either Scott Fay directly or to us, so that we can bring it up to him.”
As of the most recent Taco Day, May 21st, 2025, rice has returned to the cafeteria at Essex High School.
