By Sierra Babbie
Dominick Andre was approved as a temporary vice president, and the positions of coordinator of public relations and board of elections chair were filled during the Student Association meeting on Feb. 18.
Jack Sweet, the previous vice president of the Student Association, unexpectedly resigned last week, leaving an open position in the SA. A temporary vice president was needed to fulfill the duties of the role until the upcoming special election.
The SA holds two types of elections; special and general. A special election occurs whenever an elected official leaves their position before the end of their term, while a general election is planned far ahead of time and takes place in regular intervals. The next special election is expected to take place sometime before spring break, although the exact date isn’t yet known.
During the meeting, Dominick Andre, the current speaker of the student senate, was approved for the temporary position of vice president.
Soon after, Senator Jadalyse Medina proposed that her experience managing PR for both House of Divinity and K.I.N.K.S. qualified her to be the coordinator of public relations for the SA. Medina said her interest in technology and experience managing the social media of other organizations helped to suit her for the position, which would primarily include using software such as Canva and social media to maintain student engagement.
“In my house, I’m known as the IT person. My parents are not from this generation, so I’m used to adjusting stuff and learning about new software, because at home, they don’t really know,” Medina said.
With a unanimous vote, the SA approved Medina for her new role within the association.
Yvonne Carroll, a first-year psychology major, spoke about her interest in becoming the board of elections chair for the SA — a position which, with the special and general elections approaching, is soon to be crucial.
Carroll explained that she has gained throughout college the interpersonal skills needed to be effective at helping the SA through the election process. She is the vice president of Active Minds, a club which seeks to increase campus awareness of mental health issues, and has experience working in an assisted living home.
“I’m very into teamwork, and I listen to other’s opinions, not just mine. I feel that I would do really good collaborating with everybody,” Carroll said.
Carroll was approved for her respective position with a unanimous vote. The two were then led through a joint oath by the President of the Student Association, Charlotte Feliz.
The SA is still in search of members for the Board of Elections, which will need to be composed by the next special election for the new vice president.
“We need to find people who are interested in this board. Anybody that you can find who would be interested, send them our way,” Andre said. “Anything you can do to make people aware that this is something that needs to happen. Twenty-five days from now at the latest, there needs to be a special election for my position.”
