After the 2026 SGA Presidential Debate, The Sandspur reached out to the candidates with the goal of giving each ticket the opportunity to share more about themselves and expand on anything that was not reflected in the debate. The tickets are presidential candidate Charlie Curci (‘27) and vice-presidential candidate Farrell Donnelly (‘27), along with presidential candidate Gavin Mitchell (‘29) and vice-presidential candidate Claire Shannon (‘29). Both tickets were asked the same questions.
Voting for SGA president and vice president will take place from March 24 – 27.
The candidates were first asked about the biggest challenge facing Rollins right now and how they would address it if elected.
Curci discussed recent and pending changes in the Rollins administration, including changes in the president, provost, Vice President of Student Affairs and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. If elected, he said his role would be “ensuring that the Rollins student voice and what it means and what it has meant to be a Rollins student is continued.”
“I think there is some room there to challenge what has been the status quo and what are things that the students are looking to see evolved throughout the coming years in some of these newer administrations,” he said. “So, ensuring that there’s this bridge between what’s loved in the tradition and the old, and also what can be ushered in with the new.”
Donnelly spoke on improving connectivity on campus. “We have all these wonderful sports teams, sororities, fraternities, all these clubs, and they’re great individually. We do some collaboration. We just had an SGA improv players show, that was great, but I would like to see more of that in the coming years.”
“More of a team and school spirit environment I think is the biggest issue we have right now,” she added.
Mitchell cited limited involvement among the student body, noting that “With a lack of involvement, whether that’s in clubs or just getting out and about with people, there’s this snowball effect that comes with that that has a lot of people not knowing where things like mental health resources are or resources when it comes to wellness or class attendance.” He added, “When campus has 10 percent of the students doing the majority of involvement on campus, it leads to a lack of knowledge in a lot of areas for a lot of students.”
Shannon discussed improving connections between senators and the student body, suggesting that senators could have greater visibility through SGA’s social media. On her current role as sustainability senator, she said, “I don’t really feel like my role reaches the breadth of my constituency.”
Shannon added that she would focus on “making sure that each senator is really shown to the school” and “making that personable relationship between senator and the people they represent.”
The candidates were asked to define their top priorities if elected.
Mitchell reiterated the need to improve campus involvement and discussed having more transparency between SGA and the student body. He mentioned that being involved in SGA does not only include “being a senator or trying to run for exec,” but also includes attending SGA-led events or collaborating with SGA through club events.
Mitchell said his goal is to “foster a better culture and a better community and a better environment for everyone” to get as many people’s voices heard on campus.
Shannon spoke on the importance of “making what senators do and what the executive board does more visible to the student body.” She mentioned that many students are unaware of the impact that SGA representatives can have on campus. “Each semester, a senator gets to pass a piece of legislation, but I don’t think the student body really knows that we get to do that,” Shannon said. “People should know that senators have that option and the obligation to serve their student body through legislation.”
Curci discussed making effective use of relationships with the administration, helping new students transition to “becoming a Rollins College Tar” and “reshaping SGA’s broader role in the community.”
“How are we working with the administration to ensure that these things are happening? How are we ensuring these moments of connection are starting as soon as a student starts their experience at Rollins?” said Curci. “And how is SGA kind of fostering that bigger conversation between admin and students and really serving as this kind of pinnacle and cornerstone of the community and bringing students together?”
Donnelly discussed her idea for “Senate in the Wild,” which would function as an open senate meeting accessible to students during the day. “Our senate meetings are already open, but they’re at 7:00 p.m., a little late on Wednesdays,” she explained. “This would be maybe a Tuesday or Thursday during common hour on a high foot traffic area like Mills Lawn.”
Donnelly suggested holding Senate in the Wild at the start of the semester to help formulate the senate agenda. “We’ll have some type of activity to ask students what their biggest concern is or what their favorite thing about campus is, just to prompt them and start to get ideas,” she said.
The candidates were asked what experiences or perspectives they bring that make them well-suited for SGA leadership.
Curci outlined his roles as a member of the SGA executive board, president of the Rollins Entertainment Program, and a resident assistant. “It gives me these touch points in almost every office across campus and with different individuals,” he said.
Expanding on his roles within SGA, Curci said, “I was a senator my freshman year, first year class senator. I served as parliamentarian for the senate. And then for the past two years, I’ve been the chair of academic affairs for the executive board.”
Donnelly spoke on her involvement in the Pre-Law Society, EcoRollins, and role as philanthropy chair for Breaking Bread before studying abroad. She enjoys volunteering with organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
Donnelly highlighted her experience in SGA, noting, “I’ve been a member of SGA for the last three years since freshman year, and I think me just remaining in the senate offers another unique point to our ticket because it lets the VP completely focus on the senate, and not so much the exec board, which is Charlie’s realm.”
Mitchell discussed his role as president of the freshman hall council and one of the lead chairs on the presidential inauguration celebration, where he has helped plan events and coordinate logistics alongside other students.
“It’s given me a lot of experiences, and I’ve been able to talk to a lot of people through that,” he said. “I’ve been able to pick their brains about a lot of different issues on campus.”
Shannon shared her experience as part of the Alfond Scholars Program. “One of the main things that we’ve done with the Alfond cohort is go on a freshman immersion to the Hope Community Center. And after we completed that immersion, I was really inspired by the stories I heard,” she said.
She later led a volunteering opportunity at the Hope Community Center to help their community garden, and she hopes to make it a recurring initiative each semester.
The candidates were asked what sets their campaign apart from the other ticket.
Mitchell acknowledged that the most visible difference is that he and Shannon are underclassmen, but he said that their campaign offers a different perspective, shaped by their more recent experience on campus. “The energy we bring is very different,” he said.
Shannon added, “As freshmen, we’re going into this kind of clearing our slate for the next year and maybe the next few years if we get the opportunity. And so, we don’t have tons of commitments next year because we want to make this our main goal.”
Curci said the key difference between the two tickets is their level of experience. He noted that he and Donnelly had planned to campaign together since their freshman year. “I knew my continued work on the executive board would set me up for running the executive board, and Farrell knew her continued work in the senate would set her up to run the senate,” he said.
Donnelly said, “I think we have the maturity levels too, to really serve as the vice president and president.” She added, “We’ve been through all these experiences, which has shaped us to be ready for these positions.”
The candidates were also asked to share something interesting about themselves outside of SGA that students might not know.
Curci shared that he is a long-distance runner and has been running since he was nine years old. “I ran my first marathon at 17, and then I’ve run one every year since,” he said. “I’ve run four marathons, and I actually just signed up to run my fifth next January.”
Donnelly said that her sister, who has special needs, has been an important influence in her life. “I think she’s shaped almost all of my life and how I am as a person and how I approach things in terms of patience and thinking through things,” she said.
Mitchell talked about his passion for speed-solving Rubik’s Cubes. “Cubing, I guess is what you could call it, is probably my main hobby… you don’t see very often people just sitting down at a table just locked in,” he said. He also plays the alto saxophone.
Shannon shared that she has her own history blog, called “History’s Habitat.” “The last blog I wrote about was these things called Venetian Chopines, which are like 20-inch-tall shoes that they would wear in the 15th century,” she said.
Voting will take place from March 24-27. Students can vote by signing in to Get Involved, navigating to the SGA page, and casting their ballot. You can also vote directly here.
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