Cavataio, English inaugurated as SGA president and vice president; look toward filling vacant positions
Shelby Township senior Vincent Cavataio and Jackson junior Bryant English were sworn into the presidency and vice presidency of the Student Government Association Monday.
Former SGA president and vice president Garden City senior Brittany Mouzourakis and Muskegon senior Dave Breed swore Cavataio and English in at a 6 p.m. ceremony in Bovee University Center’s Gold Room.
Before swearing in English, Cavataio and other elected SGA positions, both Mouzourakis and Breed gave short farewell speeches.
“All in all, it’s been a great year for SGA,” Mouzourakis said during her farewell speech. “ I hope to see it grow, and I know Vince and Bryant will take good care of the organization.”
Mouzourakis ended her speech with an exclamation of “Peace, love and Lady Gaga! I was born this way!”
Breed told a short story about he and Mouzourakis meeting during their freshman year and deciding at an early stage to work together on campus.
“She was a roommate of one of the girls in my Safari group, and I ended up hanging out in her dorm room, talking about how we both wanted to be involved on campus,” Breed said. “I remember back during that time, we said we’d end up running (for SGA office) together.”
English said since being elected last Thursday, he has been hard at work getting oriented to the responsibilities of his new position, while balancing a heavy class workload as exams loom.
“It has been crazy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” English said.
Port Huron junior Dan Wiley, who has served as treasurer since being appointed by Breed and Mouzourakis in February, was sworn in after being reelected to the same position.
Wiley said he hopes to cut down on unnecessary spending, including the phone in the SGA’s office, which the university charges the group $500 a year for.
“One of the kind of weird things I noticed is we spend $500 on a telephone service,” Wiley said. “I’d like to see some of those costs shift, and do away with some of the old ways of doing things.”
Six of the eight elected senators, Saline junior Evan O’Reilly, Saint Johns junior Sabrina Hebeler, Flat Rock sophomore Brittany Santure, Alma sophomore Anna Dvorak, Sparta freshman Spencer McKellar and Grant junior Mara Kieren, were also sworn in.
Moments after the inauguration, Cavataio and English made their way to Dow Science Complex 171 for their first SGA general assembly meeting in their new positions. Cavataio said general assembly elections will be held at next week’s meeting in the same location, 7 p.m. Monday, to fill open Senate and executive board positions.
At present 15 of the Senate’s 23 seats are open, less than the majority quorum the body needs to operate.
“We would have nominations for those senators, and they would give a two-minute speech, and then we would vote to elect or not elect them,” said Cavataio, adding nominees need not be current members of SGA.
Breed and Mouzourakis, after graduating in May, will both go on to law school. Mouzourakis will attend Pennsylvania State University, and Breed will go to Indiana University. Mouzourakis expressed interest in running for Congress in the future.
