Naomi Hess ’22 will serve on the University’s Board of Trustees to represent her class as the 2022 Young Alumni Trustee. She will begin her four-year term on July 1, 2022.
The results were officially announced at the annual meeting of the Alumni Council, which was held on May 20.
In an email to The Daily Princetonian, Hess expressed her gratitude to the student body and described how her undergraduate experiences will inform her involvement on the Board.
“Thank you to my classmates and peers for believing in my capacity to carry out the duties of YAT,” she wrote. “I really appreciate all of the opportunities and experiences Princeton has given me and I can’t wait to give back to this community that I care about so much.”
“I will be a conduit between current students and the alumni on the Board of Trustees and I hope to do so with integrity and compassion,” Hess continued.
Hess is an Associate News Editor emerita and contributing copy editor for the ‘Prince.’
On campus, Hess was a School of Public and International Affairs concentrator with certificates in journalism and gender and sexuality studies.
Hess co-founded the Undergraduate Student Government Disability Task Force, which led accessibility training for eating clubs and met with the Grounds and Buildings Committee within the Board of Trustees about accessibility on campus. She founded the Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month Shabbat for the Center for Jewish Life. Hess is also a peer academic advisor (PAA) for Butler College.
Hess received the A. James Fisher, Jr. Memorial Award from the Pace Center in November 2021 and the Spirit of Princeton Award (SOP) from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students (ODUS).
After graduation, Hess will work as a health research associate with a focus on disability policy at Mathematica, a social policy research and consulting company.
“I’ve made it my mission throughout my time at Princeton to advocate for increased accessibility and inclusivity by working with the USG Disability Task Force, AccessAbility Center, and other groups” she wrote. “These efforts have shown me the importance of using my voice to lift up the voices of others, and that is what I will continue to do as YAT.”
Hess, along with Christian Potter ’22 and Claire Wayner ’22, advanced to the general election after the senior class voted in the primary election on a larger group of 21 seniors.
In response to the election results, Potter and Wayner both expressed their confidence in Hess as the 2022 Young Alumni Trustee.
Potter wrote in an email to the ‘Prince,’ “as honored as I was to have been a finalist in this process, I am thrilled to see that Naomi is our Young Alumni Trustee and am grateful that we have as strong a figure as her in the Board Room.”
Wayner expressed a similar sentiment. “It’s a joy to see Naomi win this position, and I have great faith that she will do an incredible job,” she wrote.
To vote on the pool of three finalists, the general election was open to the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and ran from April 19 to May 11.
According to Deputy Spokesperson for the University Michael Hotchkiss, 19 percent of the electorate participated in this year’s election. Voting took place through third-party election services provider Election Services Corporation.
Anika Buch is an Associate News Editor at the ‘Prince’ who typically covers STEM communities and on-campus research. She can be reached at ambuch@princeton.edu.
Isabel Yip is an Assistant News Editor who typically covers University Affairs and student life. She can be reached at isabelyip@princeton.edu or on Instagram at @isaayip.