Emily Castillo, Max Lachut stake SGA campaign on delivering ‘results’
Even though SGA candidates Emily Castillo and Max Lachut are running in the assembly's third consecutive uncontested election, the sophomore duo maintains their campaign will deliver "results." Avery Magee | Photo Editor
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
There have been three consecutive uncontested candidates for Syracuse University’s Student Government Association president and vice president. Even though Emily Castillo and Max Lachut are the latest, they maintain their “Promise to Progress” is different from previous years.
The sophomore pair is running for SGA’s 70th session, and voting will open at noon on Monday and close on Friday, April 3. Students can vote in the general election by using the ‘Cuse Activities link sent to their campus emails and posted on the SGA Instagram.
Their campaign is built upon the goal of delivering “results” to students, Lachut, SGA’s current speaker pro-tempore, said. He said in politics, there are both “reasons and results,” and people really only care about results.
“People make promises all the time, but at the end of the day, the thing that matters is the word progress,” Lachut said. “We want to bring these promises and turn them into actual progress, because leadership is measured in success. It’s not measured in the thing you plan.”
Based on the “sacrifices” Castillo’s family made to make her educational journey possible, Castillo said she hopes to show the student body through her leadership that she understands personal struggles and how to overcome them.
“Having seen their struggle and the life skills that they implemented in me, always giving back, always making sure to give back to those individuals,” Castillo said. “If you want a village, you have to be a villager.”
Lachut said he brings the “village” aspect to life as a Syracuse local, aiming to make an impact as a future physician and by being “involved in the governmental and policy aspects.” Lachut credits his passion for saving lives to mentors who work at the American Heart Association.
While both candidates are no strangers to campaigning, they said this year’s election holds a special place in their hearts. Adding to the “prominence” of their campaign is the team behind them — led by campaign manager Kenneth Lanterman and nine others.
“Being on this long journey of ‘Promise To Progress’ has been rewarding and exciting at the same time,” Lanterman said.
While Lanterman worked on multiple campaigns before — including serving as Mayor Sharon Owens’ volunteer director before she was elected in Syracuse’s 2025 mayoral primary — he said working on Castillo and Lachut’s ticket, “has been rewarding and exciting at the same time.”
“This is the first campaign where I can say that we’ve had a large team, and this team has been the most diverse adversary team that I’ve ever experienced in my campaign career,” Lanterman said.
Emphasizing that student connection is central to their platform, Castillo and Lachut said they want to design a way to foster direct, approachable conversations with students across campus by implementing their “Stop By, Say Hi” initiative.
“Stop By, Say Hi” is designed to be an in-person tabling presence inside of the Schine Student Center during peak hours during the first week of the fall semester, so that students can easily talk to SGA members and get to know them, Castillo said.
She said that students are not just looking for ideas — they want to see leaders actively executing them and creating lasting, meaningful progress. In the past, Castillo noted many students aren’t always aware of the responsibilities and role of SGA — something the “Stop By, Say Hi” initiative hopes to change.
Other mentors in both Castillo and Lachut’s lives have inspired them to be leaders. For Castillo, current SGA President German Nolivos, whom she met through the Posse Foundation, is someone she said was a strong example of leadership. Together, both Lachut and Castillo said their mindset shapes how they approach leadership.
“(Lachut) and I are the type of leaders that emphasize student input and teamwork,” Castillo said.
Both said they believe their teamwork is strengthened by the differences in their backgrounds.
“In a democracy, it’s very important to have a diversity of ideas,” Lachut said.
Both candidates acknowledged that although the election is uncontested, it is still important to amplify student voices that typically go unheard.
“The promises we make tonight are not false promises,” Castillo said after Thursday’s debate. “They are goals we make for ourselves, and we will deliver as we go into the senate session.”
