Four inspiring student leaders have recently taken the motto of James Madison University, “Be the Change,” to the next level. Every spring semester, the JMU Student Government Association holds their annual elections, but this year was different. Patrick Watral, Abby Ware, Chris Brown, and Emily Douillard ran together on one ticket for the positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Student Representative to the Board of Visitors. Their campaign slogan, “A Change of P.A.C.E.,” not only an acronym for the students’ first names, promoted the main aspect of each candidate’s similar platform: Change.
Two students on the ticket, Chris Brown and Emily Douillard, had no SGA experience in the past, causing negative feedback from some students. But after a week of campaigning and encouraging the student body to vote in the online elections, P.A.C.E. took home the victory! Her Campus JMU was lucky enough to get an exclusive interview from each of the students to talk about the next step in bringing change to our campus…
Patrick Watral, a junior at JMU, will be serving as the President of the Student Body next year and is extremely enthusiastic about the upcoming change on campus. Watral believes that, “running for Student Body President was the ultimate form of service [he] could think of, and getting that chance now is a true honor!” Although there was opposition to P.A.C.E., the team stayed strong. Patrick believed that, “staying motivated was easy though because the outpouring of support we received from the student community made me believe we would have the chance to prove ourselves soon.”
One of Patrick’s main goals for next year is to present the students with a reinvented Student Government Association. He says, “Students will see a new, refreshed, more involved organization willing to follow through on feedback, defend rights, and provide resources. The administration will recognize the SGA as a more legitimate body ready to be involved in the conversations that will affect students.”
Our Vice President, Emily Douillard, was the only one of the four running against an opponent in the elections, so it was essential to get her name out there! In the beginning, Emily didn’t know much about SGA or the Vice President position. After sitting down with Pat, Abby, and Chris, she was inspired! She says, “After almost a week of deliberation, I decided that I really did want to help bring a positive change to this campus and realized that I had a lot of things that I could offer to the student body that were new and fresh, and so I agreed to run for VP on a ticket with them.”
As an outsider with no Student Government experience, Emily was often questioned about her ability to handle the position of Vice President. Emily is determined to show students that her outside perspective can benefit the campus through her position. Recently, SGA reconstructed the Vice President position and Emily believes, “It [is] a great time to pull in someone new and fresh, who can bring a completely different perspective in and help to define the new position.”
Treasurer Abby Ware, a current sophomore at JMU, served as SGA’s Treasurer this past year and was very successful. She is very proud that, “this year SGA allocated almost $100,000 in funding for groups and organizations to put on events, programs, and attend conferences. Allocating that much money can be difficult, but SGA gave out the most money in the fastest amount of time than ever in recent years.”
And if you think that’s impressive, she has even more ideas for the future including the BIG Sale. At the end of the year, people usually toss their unwanted items into garbage dumpsters rather than putting them to use in other ways. Abby wants to provide an alternative. “At the end of the year, there will be trucks stationed throughout campus that will take the unwanted items and then store them over the summer.” The BIG Sale is a long-term project that will hopefully be taking place at the beginning of fall 2012. People from the JMU and Harrisonburg community will be able to buy the stored items and all money that is collected will be donated to a charity that is to be determined.
Chris Brown, also a junior, has the position of Student Representative to the Board of Visitors. Although unheard of by many students, Chris believes his position has the potential to make a huge impact on the lives of students. He expresses that, “The potential of this position is immense. Having a student voice heard in the conversations and actions that take place at this level has the potential to influence choices made and for us as students to see the changes we want to see.”
Chris has already been working on several projects and is excited to see where they can go. He really “hopes to build a better level of communication between organizations, because so much can come from just simple conversations and understanding what is going on across campus. I don’t want to just accomplish the things I want to see, I want to accomplish what the student body wants to see.”
P.A.C.E. has also inspired JMU’s students to become more involved with our campus. Freshman Kayla Cooper says that “after volunteering for the P.A.C.E. campaign, I was motivated to join our Student Government Association. It’s really inspiring to see students wanting to make a difference!”
Together, Patrick, Abby, Chris, and Emily are a group determined not only to bring a change of pace to the campus, but to also encourage the student body to be the change as well. Abby says that she “wants to make sure that students know that SGA is something for them to take advantage of and let their voices be heard.”
Don’t hesitate – the time is now to make your impact on our campus! If you’re interested in joining SGA, visit sga.jmu.edu to find out how! Otherwise, JMU has hundreds of organizations for you to become involved with. It’s never too late to make a difference and get your voice heard!
Also, congratulations to our newest Class Council Representatives:
Class of 2014
President: Collin Russell
Vice President: Quinn Wilkinson
Treasurer: Liz Ramirez
Secretary: Alicia Pettis
Class of 2013
President: Matt Klein
Vice President: Merideth Wood
Treasurer: Nadia Masroor
Secretary: Keith Zirkle
Class of 2012
President: Rheanna Martino
Vice President: Grant Bigman
Treasurer: Danielle Suchar
Secretary: Erin Brooks
Sources:
www.sga.jmu.edu
Photo Sources:
www.votejmupace.com