By Megan Sladish and Sloane Walsh ’25
After an exciting few months of prefect applications, speeches, and Q&As, the eight prefect elects for the 2023-2024 school year were chosen. Twenty-six students applied for the prefect position, each working hard to show the community what they had to offer. Each of the twenty-six candidates gave their speeches on the 24th of March, and the number was cut down to twelve. These twelve attended and answered questions at the prefect Q&A on Saturday, April 1st. The final announcement was made at the advisor lunch on Tuesday, April 4th. Our eight prefects for the 2023-2024 school year include head prefect Bea Flynn, Eung Jay Lee, Layla Copen, Erin Whitney, Taylor Brown, Ty Novenstein, Alejandro Zafra Gutiérrez, and Anna Dámosy. These eight are excited to be leaders on campus and give back to the school community.
What is your name, and where are you from?
Bea Flynn, from Berlin, CT
Jay Lee, from Seoul, South Korea
Layla Copen, from New Preston, CT
Erin Whitney, from Millsboro, DE
Taylor Brown, from Greenwich, CT
Ty Novenstein, from Scarsdale, NY
Alejandro Zafra Gutiérrez, from Madrid, Spain
Anna Damosy, from Budapest, Hungary
What are you looking forward to as a prefect? What does this position mean to you?
Bea Flynn: “I am really excited for what next year has in store. Our new Head of School, Mrs. Gum, is a wonderful and welcome change to the FGS community. I am ready to work closely with her and the incoming Prefects to continue to grow this wonderful community here at Gunn and keep our school spirit high! I look forward to welcoming all the new students to our campus in September and wish for everyone to find success as this school year comes to a close.”
Jay Lee: “The first student I met in my freshman year was one of the prefect members, and from that moment I wanted to become prefect. Now, I have become a prefect with the awesome seven other prefect members, and I cannot wait to work as a prefect next year!”
Layla Copen: “I’m so grateful and excited about this opportunity. I can’t wait to start working with the other prefects to bring our community to the best it can possibly be.”
Erin Whitney: “I’m so excited to work with this group to maintain the fun, welcoming, and supportive atmosphere our school does best! I’m also really excited to get to know our student body even better and work to make positive change together.”
Taylor Brown: “I want to make everyone here on the same page and emphasize working together and being an individual force for good while being a part of a much larger, community-wide, force for good. You can expect a vocal and outgoing prefect and someone who you can always rely on to be there or get something done when it needs to be.”
Alejandro Zafra Gutiérrez: “I am looking forward to meet all of the new people next year. I am also looking forward to make everything feel included in this community.”
Anna Damosy: “To me being a prefect (or for the time being, a prefect elect) means that I can take part in the amazing change that is happening on our campus and give back something to the community that I got so much from.”
As the school year ends and this year’s prefects move on to colleges, the school is excited and welcoming of the new eight prefects. We look forward to seeing what they will do for the community and what they offer in the upcoming school year. These eight candidates have proven themselves worthy of the position and are ready to handle the task!
