For the past two weeks, three pairs of students campaigned to become the 2013-2014 president and vice president of the Spring Arbor University (SAU) Student Government Association (SGA). The candidate pairs were Ty Davis and Tiara Bennett, Steven Hlatky and Rachel Bogues and Alex Mace and Ali James.
Students cast votes on Monday and Tuesday, March 25 and 26 outside of the Dining Commons during lunch and dinner. Hlatky and Bogues won the election, as president and vice president respectively.
Lydia Wyse, the current SGA vice president, called Hlatky around 11 p.m. and after a few superficial questions said something along the lines of congratulations, now go out and celebrate.
“After I said, ‘Say that again’ [and she verified], I went to Wal-Mart with a few buddies and just walked around to celebrate,” Hlatky said.
Wyse made the official announcement to the entire student body during chapel on Wednesday, March 27. Hlatky could only describe the support from the student body along with their belief in the duo and and ideas from their campaign as “humbling and honorable.”
Hlatky and Bogues’ mission boils down to two words: communication and commitment.
“We weren’t sure which word to put first,” said Hlatky. “We came to the conclusion that since communication is already happening on campus, it should go first. We felt that commitment was a drive-home word and should come second. Whatever we decide to do, we’re going to go full force at it.”
A few of the things Hlatky and Bogues are looking to implement or improve on include a concert every two weeks by a SAU band, an open door policy and a weekly rest time for student leaders and workers.
The concerts are open to any band, like the SAU jazz band or a group made up of students. This provides them with an opportunity to have a gig and to be encouraged by the rest of the student body.
An open-door policy is currently enacted for SGA but is something that Hlatky believes can be improved. The SGA office door will have an “open” sign with someone from the cabinet present to discuss ideas and concerns about what’s going on around campus. If a student doesn’t want to meet face-to-face, Hlatky would like to have a suggestion box of some sort (like an email account or even a niche Twitter account).
“We want to encourage people to step up. We’ll try to implement as many ideas as possible and help students in the process of things like starting a small group, etc.,” said Hlatky.
The weekly rest time would be an hour in a designated building or room where student leaders can come to rest. Hlatky and Bogues would like to extend this time to other student workers as well.
“It can be a place where they get a snack, relax, listen to music or do homework without extra interruptions. We’d like to keep pouring into them so they can keep pouring out,” said Hlatky.
Hlatky and Bogues have big ideas for next year. With the help of volunteers like campaign manager Tyler Prough, designer David Markham, photographer Dakota Mork, videographer Michael Gearhart and their floormates and friends they were able to spread the word about their campaign. Now they will rely on people like this and their cabinet members (look for applications beginning April 3) to accomplish these goals.
“We’re very thankful for their help,” said Hlatky. “We couldn’t have done anything without them.”
WRITTEN WITH CAM DAVIS
[WRITER’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE MARCH 2013 EDITION OF “THE PULSE”]