Following Wednesday’s elections, the Hanover School Board has taken on a new shape with most Wards having new voices.

Representing Niverville Bothwell Kleefeld and Crystal Springs in Ward 1, incumbent Shannon Friesen welcomed a newly elected Carissa Klassen who comments: “the excitement of this all hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I would say I feel really privileged and supported.”

Carisa Klassen

Like Ward 1, Steinbach Ward 3 also saw a single change as Danielle Funk was added to the list of re-elected incumbents including Ron Falk, Rick Peters, and Brad Unger.

Danielle FunkFunk reflects on her elections experience “I had no idea what was going on and I wasn’t getting any feedback on where I stood within the group, so being there at the polls seeing the results come through made me very excited and thankful that I get this opportunity.”

In Ward 2 Lynn Barkman and Sue Doeksen were acclaimed and will continue serving Landmark, Blumenort and Mitchell.

Trustee for Grunthal Ward 4, Jonathon Driedger, was also acclaimed though he does not yet have experience on a School Board.

In contrast to the three brand new voices for the Hanover School Division, with 26 years of service, incumbent Ron Falk holds a divisional record for longest time serving as trustee. He too looks forward to continuing the division’s momentum with both veterans and newcomers on the team.

Ron Falk

“It’s wonderful getting elected, notes Falk “and it's a humbling feeling that people are putting their confidence and trust in you as a person to do a job and represent their community.”

Wednesday's polling results:

WARD 1

Shannon Friesen (Elected) received 892 votes
Carisa Klassen (Elected) received 676 votes
Mary Yoder received 319 votes
Jennifer Laven received 136 votes

WARD 2

Sue Doerksen (Elected by acclamation)
Lynn Barkman (Elected by acclamation)

WARD 3

Ron Falk (Elected) received 1856 votes
Brad Unger (Elected) received 1797 votes
Rick Peters (Elected) received 1546 votes
Danielle Funk (Elected) received 853 votes
Joseph Giesbrecht received 755 votes
Rachelle Jost received 669 votes

WARD 4

Jonathon Driedger (Elected by acclamation)

Final polling statistics coming in Thursday revealed that only 23 % of eligible voters participated in the trustee election which is noticeably down from the 2014 election where Ward 1 had a 36.9% voter turnout and Ward 3 had a 28.2% voter turn out.