The student body voted in favor of a vision focused on "passion, perseverance and people," electing juniors Alex Coccia and Nancy Joyce as 2013-2014 student body president and vice president Tuesday.
Coccia and Joyce received 2,066 of 3,795 votes, or 54.4 percent in the student body election. The pair's opposition - juniors Dominic Romeo and Philip Hootsmans - received 1,729 votes, or 45.6 percent. 208 students chose to abstain.
Coccia, who was accompanied by a number of supporters, attributed his ticket's victory to its campaign team.
"We put together a really good team and we're proud of everything they've done," he said. "We certainly wouldn't be here without their help."
Joyce said her ticket's opposition pushed her and Coccia to campaign harder and improve their communication efforts.
"I think we all pushed each other and made [the campaign] better," she said. "I think in the future they will also continue to push us, to make sure we're doing what we need to be doing as student body president and vice president."
Coccia, who will take office April 1, said he will use the coming weeks to gain insights from outgoing student body president and vice president Brett Rocheleau and Katie Rose and to build off his support team.
"We're excited to start conversations with [Rocheleau and Rose]. ... We've built such a strong network of people who we want to have incorporated into student government," he said. "We're going to use these next couple of weeks before the transition to get really moving on the ground."
Romeo said the experience of campaigning across campus made the experience worthwhile, win or lose.
"It's been an absolute pleasure having this opportunity to interact with students individually and in groups, to hear their feedback and truly get this whole new picture of Notre Dame as a truly diverse campus in terms of backgrounds, interests and ways of looking at things," he said. "To gain the support of as many students as we did in such a short time was incredible."
Hootsmans said he was appreciative of students' willingness to back his ticket's vision for student government.
"Everyone we talked to was extremely open and very supportive of us," he said. "Getting so many students who wanted us to be president and vice president of this campus was humbling."
Romeo said he and Hootsmans will work to advance their platform outside of student government, although he is unsure how.
"One of the big things we wanted to encourage was conversation at every level of this campus," he said. "How do we do that through an avenue that isn't student government? We'll have to examine that, but it's something we're passionate about."
Hootsmans expressed his confidence in the winning ticket's ability to serve the student body.
"We do think Coccia-Joyce will do a good job," he said. "At the end of the day, Notre Dame is stronger for it."
News Editor Kristen Durbin also contributed to this report.
