On Monday, students were able to get their first taste of the candidates for Student Government Association President and Vice President positions.
SGA held a meet and greet to promote the upcoming election. The three running mates were able to discuss their platforms with students individually and attempt to secure their vote.
First Year Kalvin Kozar felt that the meet and greet went well. As a first year, he was previously uninformed with the candidates. This allowed him to get a better understanding of their ideas for the future of Augustana College.
“It seems like the candidates are well informed,” Kozar said. “I am looking forward to seeing the debate. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
Juniors Marvin Agyeben, Luke Robinson, and Sebastian Pagliarello came out to learn about each set of candidates. All members of Phi Omega Phi, one can assume that they will be supporting Blake Randolph and Jake Speechly, but they think it’s important to come into this election with an open mind.
“Being a third year student, you know the good and bad of Augustana College,” Agyeben said. “You want to hear what all the candidates have to say, and you want to vote for people that are going to make the changes you want to see on campus.”
“This is to important of an issue to vote based on if they’re my brothers or not,” Robinson said.
“You want what’s best for the entire Augustana population,” Pagliarello said. “We want them to make an informed decision.”
After listening to all three candidates, Junior Raven Hoffman believes that whoever wins the election should think about implementing their opposing candidates platforms, as well.
“I think that the candidates need to listen to each other,” Hoffman said. “All three have great ideas, and in the end they are all important to Augustana’s campus.”
SGA’s current President David Sommers is happy with the turnout of the meet and greet, but he continues to ask students to get more involved.
“I believe that it’s vital for students to ask questions outside of the structured time frame,” Sommers said.
Sommers would love to see the meet and greet continue in future years.
“I think that this allows the students to be more involved in the election process,” Sommers said.
SGA Vice President Jackie Jastrzebski likes that this gives candidates the ability to practice talking to students and relaying their message to campus.
“I think you it’s important to see the candidates talking to students and getting their message out to campus,” Jastrezebski said. “I hope we can fill the room for the debate.”
The debate will be held Monday, March 21st at 6pm. Voting will begin on March 29 and will end on March 31st.