The year's crop of University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) presidential candidates, released this evening, includes a former runner-up, the Paternoville Coordination Committee (PCC) founder and an Army ROTC staff sergeant.

Students began registering for candidacy on Feb. 25; the registration deadline was 6 p.m. Friday. UPUA elections will be held on March 26 with a total of 41 students running for various positions within UPUA this year.

Pete Sowa (sophomore-finance and economics) and Matt Sabo (sophomore-economics) will run for UPUA president and vice president, respectively. Sabo is the Blue Band's drum major and performs the ceremonial flip before each home football game. Sowa is a squad leader and saxophone player in the Blue Band.

Presidential candidate Jordan Cascino (junior-communication arts and sciences) and his running mate, Miatta Massaley (sophomore-economics), will also campaign in this year's elections. Cascino is the founder and former president of the PCC, which oversees students campouts in front of Gate A before home football games.

Former presidential candidate Gavin Keirans (sophomore-business) will run again for the UPUA presidency this year, along with vice presidential candidate Valarie Russell (junior-political science). Keirans was the runner-up last year but was disqualified. He is the executive director of student advocacy group Safeguard Old State.

Dan Kennedy (junior-history), an Army ROTC staff sergeant, will also run for president this year with vice presidential candidate Drew Baron (junior-biochemistry and molecular biology).

UPUA Head Elections Commissioner Jon Lozano said he was optimistic for this year's elections.

"I'm happy with the sheer number of candidates who registered," he said, adding that he said he does not expect much trouble from this year's candidates. "I have confidence that the people that are running aren't going to run out there and start violating rules left and right. It's a good group of people," he said.