After a particularly intense round of SGA elections in the beginning of March, we are all anxious to get to know the faces of next year’s governing body. Why not start with SGA President-elect (and former Campus Cutie – hooray for brains and looks!) Jon Laven ’12? Jon, a mathematics and philosophy major from Chanhassen, MN, sat down with Her Campus St. Olaf to talk about his election to the presidency and his plans for SGA in the upcoming school year.
Her Campus St. Olaf: What was the journey to becoming SGA President-elect?
Jon Laven: It’s very exciting. Klara was abroad in Scotland all this semester, and I was abroad first semester this year. So we were only here together for interim. I was thinking about running, and I wanted someone else who had been on SGA for a VP, so I asked Klara. We got all our pictures and videos going in January, and then I had to campaign by myself. I think it went well, and it was really exciting.
HC: How long have you been planning to be SGA President?
JL: Well, I’ve been playing around with the idea for a while. My friends always joked that I would be President, and then it happened. I didn’t start thinking about it really seriously until I was on my trip last semester. Being abroad, I started daydreaming about what I was going to do when I got back.
HC: How does it feel to be elected?
JL: It feels good. The busyness of campaigning is over, but the busyness of next year has already started, since all the SGA branches will be hiring new people, so stuff is already getting moving.
HC: What is your goal for next year?
JL: One of the things that I think is really important is technology on campus, especially the websites and things like podcasts and apps. There’s a lot of schools that are moving a lot faster than we are with those things, and I don’t think that the administration understands just how important those things are for our generation. For high school students right now, that is an even bigger part of their lives, and so as they’re looking at colleges, I feel like that’s really important. So that’s something I want to make the administration realize next year.
HC: Does anything about being SGA President make you nervous?
JL: Well, it’s a huge time commitment. SGA is a beast. Balancing that with classes will be a lot of work, but I guess that’s true of any student who’s involved. But I’m pretty confident, and it will be a lot of fun.
HC: What will the best part be?
JL: Well, there are perks for being SGA President. You’re always in the know, as far as student stuff goes but also with meeting with the Deans and President Anderson. I mean, you hear about things before most students hear about them (and some students never hear about them, if they’re not connected). So that’s fun.
HC: Finish these sentences:
St. Olaf men are…
St. Olaf women are…
JL: This is hard. I don’t know, fun and nice?
HC: Any advice for Oles?
JL: Enjoy the opportunities you have here!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at St Olaf chapter.