The former Students’ Association officers passed down their positions to the incoming officers in the Changing of the Guard ceremony last Thursday at Abilene Country Club.
Robert Hull, senior piano performance major from Ripon, California, served on the Students’ Association this year as the executive administrator and also did some of the planning for the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
“Each of us gets up and tells a little bit about our position and then announces the new person for the next year,” Hull said. “We all have a certain pass-down that we each give them.”
As the members of SA passed down their positions, former SA president Dylan Benac, senior political science major from Boerne, reflected on the time he spent as part of the Students’ Association.
“Having been in this office for two years, it’s really a bit surreal to be done,” Benac said. “I’ve done my job, and I think I’ve done it well. To be done is a good feeling. There are points in life when you have to move on, and this provided a very natural transition for that.”
The event, though private, was attended by a large group of people, all in support of the outgoing members and next year’s incoming cabinet. Benac said there were around 70 people, including Congress members and their dates and a variety of administrators that were invited to come.
Benac also helped to arrange for each of the outgoing officers to receive something to commemorate their time at ACU and service to the student body.
“All the outgoing executive officers got a really nice framed artistic piece of Chapel on the Hill,” Benac said.
Judith Duran, junior nursing major from McAllen and Zona Luce building representative, said the older members of SA supported the younger members efforts to participate.
“Something that I’ve encountered this year that really surprised me was the way that the upper leadership encouraged Congress to pursue bills,” Duran said. “With the people that were interested in pursuing something, the leadership of SA came alongside them and helped them accomplish things.”
The new SA officers for the 2014-15 school year are:
Rodney Johnson as President
Beau Carter as Vice President
Andrew Tate as Treasurer
Savannah Hostetter as Executive Administrator
Rudy Garza as Chief Communications Officer
Cole McClellan as Chief Financial Officer