Anna Gorman, Campus Carrier staff writer
Elections for freshman class officers in the Student Government Association (SGA) were held last week. Freshmen elected Marcus Muriithi as president, Brandon Evans as vice president, Adriana Walker as secretary and Abbey Farmer as treasurer.
More freshmen ran for class officer positions in the Student Government Association (SGA) this year. According to junior Anna Yard, the SGA vice president, 33 freshmen were nominated for class officer positions, compared to an estimate of the usual eight to 15 that have run in previous years.
Dean of Students and SGA supervisor Lindsey Taylor said this may mean freshmen have more interest in getting involved.
“I feel like students come in very excited,” Taylor said. “And SGA is a great way to get plugged in quickly.”
Taylor said this could be caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected freshmen during their first year of high school.
“[Freshmen] are a class that sees the value of getting involved,” Taylor said. “At least some, if not part, of your high school experience was so abnormal in terms of what you were able to do. And then this class, not just at Berry, but kind of this age group in general seems to just be more engaged. Now you could go back. Is that the pandemic? Is that just who you are as a generation?”
SGA’s Director of Communication Kaylin Rezek, a sophomore, said the increased interest in SGA could be due to the large size of the freshman class, which numbers at 600.
Rezek also said SGA’s new approach to students could have played a role.
“I think that this year, our team specifically has focused on being a lot more open and friendly,” Rezek said. “We don’t want to just be seen as the executive board of the class. We want to be friends. We have snacks, the door’s always open for people to just come hang out, ask questions, anything like that.”
This approach has caused a shift in how students interact with SGA.
“We really wanted to let the freshmen know this is a big deal,” Rezek said. “We want people involved, whether they become officers or whether they just become involved and come to meetings or possibly join committees. We even got flowers, just to make it more welcoming and friendly for people.”
To accommodate the large number of freshman candidates, SGA made the election process longer, and the campaign process changed. Normally, there would be a meeting, followed by a week for nomination and another week for campaigning, which was followed by speeches and two days of voting. This year, students campaigned while nominations were open.
“That was a little different, but I think it worked well,” Rezek said.
Campaigning changes from year to year, according to Rezek. When Yard ran for freshman class president, she put in her nominations by the last week of September, while Rezek had hers put in at the beginning of September when she ran last year.
“It will just depend on how many people want to be involved, and when the dates line up, and things like that,” Rezek said.
Taylor said she worries those who are not elected might not continue to be involved in SGA.
“It always hurts when you don’t get something you want,” Taylor said. “The reality is, because of the numbers, there’s going to be more that don’t get than do get. And so, I think what makes me nervous is that they don’t stay involved in some way with SGA.”
Taylor said SGA is open to all students, even those who are not officers.
“You can come to every SGA meeting,” Taylor said. “Whether it be concerns, or ‘could we look into this,’ or ‘I had this idea,’ any student can come to SGA and do that, and we hope they do.”
Freshman Penny Rose Pearson, a presidential nominee, said she first thought the number of freshmen running was normal.
“I didn’t know until after that initial meeting when I was talking to an upperclassmen in SGA, and he’s like, ‘There are so many people running,’” Pearson said. “I was like ‘Oh, well, I mean, that’s pretty cool.’ I think it’s awesome that so many people in our class want to be involved in SGA.”
Pearson said she enjoyed the campaigning process when running for class president, and it allowed her to get to know more people.
“I am so grateful for the experience to do that,” Pearson said. “I don’t think I would have done that as much without running.”
All four freshman officer positions went into runoffs, according to Rezek, which is not common.
“It’s just awesome to see how many people want to be involved and help the community,” Rezek said.