Freshman presidential candidate Salvatore Nesci Jr. sat in the Ratt with his friends on the night of Sept. 10, just minutes after the online election polls closed.

Just as Nesci raised his loaded burrito to his mouth, his cell phone rang. It was Chris Desilets, the sophomore class president, calling to tell Nesci that the votes were in. Nesci was elected as president of the Class of 2018, winning the highly sought-after position with a margin of just seven votes over fellow candidate Liam Kenney.

“I was jumping up and down, running in circles,” Nesci said. “I totally forgot about the fact that I left my burrito and friends at the table. I had to move, I was excited. So I get to the SGA office and I’m sitting there we’re all shaking hands, there were other candidates there, people shaking hands, and the vice president.”

As freshman president, Nesci’s goals are driven by the first-year students’ aspirations for the university.

“Any goal that I would like to set for this presidency ultimately isn’t my own personal want or desire,” he said. “The goals that I want to set are to achieve what it is that the people want. We’re here because we want to listen to what our peers have to say and work to our fullest potentials to implement their views and wants and desires into what this great community can become in the future.”

Nesci has years of experience in student government under his belt, including the student body treasurer during his senior year of high school. He was a member of his class’ Executive Board, which he said is one of the most influential political body for each class, throughout his four years at Xavier High School, a private preparatory high school in Middletown.

Nesci said he was also involved in his hometown of Middletown. Nesci was on the city Riverfront Redevelopment Commission in addition to the Young Democrats Group on the advisory board for this Democratic Town Committee. The freshman class president was also a founding member of the Mayor’s Youth Cabinet in Middletown.

Nesci believes he inherited his urge to lead and get involved from his father, who graduated from Quinnipiac College in 1992.

“My father is my biggest role model because he really drove me to do everything I wanted to do,” Nesci said. “He is just a great speaker and a people person, which is where I think I get it from. He is a great public speaker, and I hope someday that I will live up to his legacy.”

After graduating from Quinnipiac, Nesci has aspirations to change the stereotype regarding career politicians.

“I would like to get my masters in business administration and international business and I would like to pursue politics,” he said. “My true goal in life is to become a career politician.”

He says he differs from other politicians who do it for themselves, but he wants to do it for the people.

“I want to take democracy the way it should be,” he said. “And be a representative of the people and, you know, fulfill the people’s dreams and do what the people want to do and be a direct representative like it should be.”