IN THIS STORY:
Junior Brooke Gilbert and sophomore Sam West square off in the first of two presidential debates.
By
Katie Coffin, April 15, 2010
All four Student Congress executive board races will be contested for the first time in 10 years. Like last year, there will be two candidates for president – junior Brooke Gilbert and sophomore Sam West.
Gilbert and West presented their ideas and goals at TheFranklinOnline.com’s 2010 Student Congress Candidate Discussion on Thursday evening.
Gilbert attended Purdue University her freshman year and then transferred to Franklin College as a sophomore. She has been in Student Congress for the past year, serving as an at-large member and then Academic Affairs chairperson.
“Franklin really appealed to me, and I feel like Franklin gave a lot back to me, and I want to give the same back to Franklin College,” Gilbert said in explaining why she would be the best candidate for president.
West entered Franklin College directly out of high school and got involved with Student Congress right away. He said he is ready to put the time into the organization and that his prior commitment proves that. He has been on the judicial board twice, and he has been on numerous committees such as campus improvement and budget. He is currently the Honors and Budgets chairperson.
“My whole life has revolved around God, my family and my school, and then right after that will be Student Congress,” West said.
Both candidates cited their positive attitudes as the leadership trait they would bring to the position.
“It’s a good thing that no matter what, there’s going to be a positive person as president,” West said.
Gilbert said that if she gets the nod, she will work to maintain and improve the Griz Den, which is the effort to gather students together to support the athletic teams. She said she would like to expand it to include even more sporting events. She also said she wants to get Student Congress more involved with other organizations on campus like they have been with Student Entertainment Board and Student Foundation in preparation for the Corey Smith concert. Improving security notifications for students via the text messaging system is also one of her goals.
Gilbert said she would implement a comment board similar to the one in the dining hall to help improve communication with the student body. Students would be able to put down their “concerns” or “praises” for Student Congress to review.
West said he believes Student Congress has been disconnected from students this year, and he would fix that by holding “chit-chat” sessions with students and asking them directly how the Congress should be helping them. He also said he would like to continue with campus improvement projects he has worked with in committee, like better outside lighting.
Three candidates are running for the treasurer position – sophomores Darrel Feltner and Ali King and freshman Hanni Reynolds.
Reynolds was the only candidate able to attend the discussion. She said even though she is young, she gained a lot of insight working alongside current treasurer Aaron Hommell, junior, and serving on budget finance committees.
“I’ve seen what Aaron has done, and with some practice and lots of reading, I think I could accomplish the job,” Reynolds sai
No candidates for vice president or secretary were able to participate in the discussion. The candidates for vice president are freshman Matt Brems and sophomore Megan Grant. The candidates for secretary are junior Katie Holland and freshman Barry Swigart.
The application deadline for sophomore, junior and senior class representatives, at-large representative and commuter representative has been extended to April 19 and 5 p.m.
Student Congress elections will be held online on April 22.
