Eager to get the ball rolling this semester, the Student Government Association held elections for freshman senator positions on Wednesday and ushered in five fresh representatives from the new class.
Each of the colleges on campus get representation among the five senator positions, according to Andrew Ketcham, Commissioner of Elections for SGA.
“There is one for the College of Social Sciences, one for the College of Music and Fine Arts, one for the College of Business and two for the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences,” according to Ketcham. Michael Falotico, vice president of SGA, explained that they wanted to get the new senators elected before this week’s senate meeting in order to be able to swear in the freshmen.
“The reason we wanted to get the election done early is to get some sort of normalcy back,” said Falotico.
Ketcham was able to gain freshmen interest by hosting five informational sessions between Sept. 3 and 7 at various times during the day and by meeting freshmen over the summer through his Krewe Leader position. Ketcham also said that at the New Student Orientation, SGA president Khaled Badr represented the organization at four campus organization fairs.
Both Falotico and Ketcham have positive impressions and high expectations for the incoming senators.
“In my experience, these new students have shown tremendous school pride, interest in leadership and involvement and a desire to live up to the high standards set by our university,” said Ketcham. The responsibility of a SGA senator is not restricted to just showing up to senate meetings. The senators must maintain a 2.5 GPA, according to Ketcham. They also must put together both a college- wide and university-wide initiative and attend service projects and various events associated with student organizations, according to Falotico.
“The major thing about being a senator is being in the legislative position,” said Falotico, which he enforced by saying that in order to pass anything in the senate, all senators must be present.
The freshmen senators election was announced this week.
Results:
There were 5 total slots available. 2 for HUNS, 1 for every other college.
College of Humanities and Natural Sciences:
James “Bud” Sheppard
Amanda Minchella
College of Music and Fine Arts
Akeem Biggs
College of Business:
Alisha Bell
College of Social Sciences
Allison Cormier
Jonathan Cepelak can be reached at [email protected]
