Only four races for Students’ Association Congress were contested, which is down from last year’s five contested races.
Freshman involvement also declined from last year and the only contested race on the ballot was for freshman class president. Jacob Pakele, ministry major from Burleson, won against Jaley McKinney, biology major from Amarillo.
The SA cabinet would not disclose the vote count or the number of students who voted in each election. SA executive vice president Julia Kennedy said the candidates can personally ask the cabinet what the numbers were.
Races for freshman vice president and treasurer were uncontested, with just one candidate for each position. This is less than last year when three freshman ran for president, four ran for vice president and only one ran for treasurer.
Kennedy said the decrease in freshmen involvement could be a result of having elections during the second week of school. Last year, elections took place on the third week of school, so freshmen had more time to prepare than they did this year.
“I think they feel overwhelmed,” Kennedy said. “They’re like, ‘I’m not ready to be in student government, I don’t even know where my classes are.'”
“I don’t think a bunch of people know about it,” said Jaley McKinney, freshman biology major from Amarillo, who ran for freshman class president.
McKinney said she received the information for elections in a flyer during Wildcat Week then sought out more information because of her high school student government experience.
“Its been a part of my life for the past four years so I wanted to carry it over to the college level,” McKinney said. “I want to be a voice for the students and just help things get heard.”
In total, only four races were on the ballot for Wednesday’s election. Kennedy said students petitioned to run for other positions, including hall representatives, academic representatives and athletics representatives. However, those races were not on the ballot, Kennedy said, and those candidates instead went through an interview process.
“I think it’s better to have quality over quantity,” Kennedy said. “I would rather know them personally, and interview them, get to know what their goals are, and then decide myself, because I am the executive congressional chair.”
Adam Andrade won senior class president against Alexandria Warren. He served as the College of Business Administration representative the last three years and said he was ready to take on a bigger role in Congress.
“I just felt like I could better serve our class and I felt like it would be a great time to step up,” Andrade said.
Andrade, a political science and management major from Fort Worth, said one of his initial goals in SA Congress will be to bring up the issue of parking. He said many seniors told him they wanted to be able to park closer to their classes. He also said he wants to work on making sure the school is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act in honor of Drew Kirk, a disabled student who died in August.
Rachel Jones won junior class president against Tyler Hasenjaeger. She served as the Dillard Hall representative last year and said she believes she will do well as a class representative by listening to the student body’s needs.
“This isn’t a title to stick on a resume but I truly see it as an opportunity to serve the student body,” Jones said.
Her goals include getting students to support athletics more and working on changes to Title IX implementation.
Max Preston, journalism major from Amarillo, will serve as the junior class vice president. The new sophomore class president is Sloan Polvado, marketing major from Sugarland. Mikaela Clinton, advertising and public relations major from San Antonio, will serve as the sophomore vice president.
Class Officers
Freshman Class President – Jacob Pakale
Freshman Class Vice President- Oswaldo Garcia
Freshman Class Treasurer – Shelby Barclay
Sophomore Class President – Sloan Polvado
Sophomore Class Vice President – Mikaela Clinton
Sophomore Class Treasurer – Ashleigh Crawford
Junior Class President – Rachel Jones
Junior Class Vice President – Max Preston
Junior Class Treasurer – Matthew Williams
Senior Class President – Adam Andrade
Senior Class Vice President – open
Senior Class Treasurer – open
Academic Representatives
Arts & Sciences – Kevin Shultz and Liberty Grace Bland and Meagan Benson
COBA – Taylor Spencer and Evan Rodriguez
Biblical Studies – pending
Edu & Human Services – open
Nursing – pending
Student Organization
Athletics – Jaryd Lara
Arts – Christian Winter
Professional Development – Bethany Dor
Multicultural – Mafer Hernandez
Service & Activism – Anastasia Luck
STEM – open
Women’s Social Club – Kate Hegi
Men’s Social Club – Reed Denton
Residential
Gardner – Karla Mendoza
Nelson – open
McDonald – open
Mabee – Michael Bubolz and Aaron Gasca
McKinzie – Arnold Chorles
Sikes – Ivria Bunner
Barret – open
Dillard – Sara Grosz
Morris – open
Smith Adams Male – open
Smith Adams Female – open
Edwards – pending
Off Campus – Megan Bonnell
