The International Student Federation held elections on March 30, and will have an entirely new executive board next year, among other changes.

Next year, ISF will also have a new faculty adviser and a new office.

Shahida Flores will be stepping into Shivany Seepersad’s shoes as the new president.

Seepersad has been involved with ISF for three years.

As president, her focus has been to help new international students as much as possible and to be their voice in the campus community.

She has strived to educate people about the cultures and backgrounds of the international students at SLU.

Though she did not change any of the organization’s programs, her efforts were concentrated on making the existing ones “bigger and better.”

As Seepersad prepares to hand the reins over to Flores, she recognizes all the efforts that went into this year.

“I would like to thank my e-board for their hard work, their patience with me and their passion for ISF,” she said.

Flores has many of the same goals for next year.

She has been with ISF for two years, and said her decision to run for president was fueled by her love of the group and her desire to represent it on a personal and organizational level.

“I love the people I work with and the goals of the organization as a whole,” she said. “I want to advocate for international students . to be their voice.”

Flores said she would work to better integrate international students at the University, which she hopes to do by involving international students with more fun and educational social events.

“I think they will do a really good job of getting more people involved,” said Seepersad.

“I think Shahida is going to bring a lot of energy to the position, and it is my hope that the rest of the new e-board really gets that spirit and gets motivated.”

The members of the new board are already looking to the future. There are currently no plans to change the programs that ISF offers, as they have been quite successful in recent years, according to senator Rehan Refai.

Flores is planning to make some internal improvements, including restructuring the e-board and other group members.

Though the board will not alter the group’s programs, Refai said that the organization has been laying a lot of groundwork for the coming year.

It will try to revamp recruitment in an effort to increase the enrollment of international students.

The number of international students has been declining all over the country. Ten years ago, SLU had nearly 1,500 international students, compared with the 351 currently enrolled.

Seepersad thinks the decline may involve the increased difficulty in obtaining visas and international travel that has resulted from global political issues.

The decline is not an ISF-exclusive concern.

There are many changes centered around a drive to recruit more international students and increase the University’s global representation.

There are two groups specifically geared to this end, and Refai thinks ISF will be very involved in the years to come.

The International Initiatives Committee and another exploratory committee will explore diversity.

ISF helps international students with the transition to SLU.

“It is important to understand and involve yourself in the entirety of the campus,” said Shahida, who urges all students to participate in cultural events.Seepersad also thinks this is important, and wants people to get to know international students on a personal level.

ISF will begin the e-board transition, as well as the transition into a new office, after its events this weekend, including the Billiken World Festival on Friday.