Q and A: SGA presidential and vice presidential candidates Spencer McKellar and Sean Rositano


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Bethany Walter/Staff Photographer _ junior Spencer McKellar and _ sophomore Sean Rositano address Student Government Association members on Tuesday night in the Charles V. Park Memorial Library Strosacker Room for the a introduction of each of the five President/Vice President tickets that will appear on the ballot in March.

Student Government Association Presidential candidate  Sparta junior Spencer McKellar and Vice presidential candidate Fenton freshman Sean Rositano talked with Staff Reporter Octavia Carson about their campaign. CM Life will do question and answers with all SGA presidential candidates. The general elections will be held from March 12-16; students can vote online.

Octavia Carson: What do you want to accomplish?

Spencer McKellar: Our big goals for SGA next year if we were elected is to get an open door policy which would encourage more student participation, which I think is what SGA needs to represent the student body effectively. That would be one of our big platforms that we would work with other technology aspects.

We also want to continue sustainability work on campus and encourage recycling and other things like that. We want to continue to encourage the good construction on campus, which leads to us receiving leadership energy and environmental design certifications and things like that.

We are also working with revamping the SGA body a little bit to encourage participation and other events like co-sponsoring other events with other people to help out. We want to work with Program Board and collect data from the students to gather their opinions on things. We can work with them to do things on campus different programs, events and have the students have a larger knowledge of campus in general.

OC: How would you handle a situation such as the FA crisis?

SM: I think it is really important to learn what the students think of anything before we were to put an official opinion about anything like that. I also think it is important to realize that’s between the administration and the faculty. The students have a say when it affects us, like when we miss class, then we do have a say in that and we do want good faculty here but we also have to realize that is between the administration and faculty. We have to watch where we step; we don’t want to over step our bounds. So until it impacts us like when we miss our classes, and things like that, we have to respect that it’s their thing and not step in on it.

OC: Since the unicameral proposal will not be on the ballot, what would you like the bicameral system to look next year?

SM: That goes along with my ideas for encouraging more participation with other groups on campus. We want to see a more active SGA as a whole, and I think it would be good to have the legislative bodies to do things. The house right now has over 100 members consistently, and I would really like to see us harness that in a way to put on more events and just do more things for the student body.

OC: How do you think your leadership roles outside of SGA can help you be a good president?

SM: I think it is important that both Sean and I have held presidential and vice presidential positions so we know how that system works, we know how to be effective in those types of positions. I know personally serving as president of an RSO on campus has really opened my eyes to see how to gather input from who you serve and how to best utilize that. There will be certain things where if the body you are serving over is against then it makes it very hard to get anything done.

You could see that this past year in SGA when initially the house looked like they were for the unicameral system and then it changed where they were quite against it. You have to watch for the change in dynamics within a group too. My other leadership positions have helped me realize how to gauge a group and involve them to the best of their abilities.

OC: What qualifications have you gained in your first year of college that enable you to be an effective Vice President?

Sean Rositano: I am a freshman senator. I founded and am currently senator of an RSO called the Central Squirrel Club. With the RSO I have worked with writing constitutions and the nitty-gritty stuff of an RSO. As a senator I have some experience with SGA; I know how it runs and what they expect. I also was a news anchor for News Central 34, so I know how to relate to people and how to communicate.

As a Leader Advancement Scholarship recipient, it has given opportunities to a facilitator in different leadership type events. It leads to communication, knowing how to relate to people and being a team player. I would say all that leads to what the vice president of SGA is suppose to do.

The Vice President is supposed to deal with SGA internally with the house and with the senate. If I can’t be an effective leader with those two bodies, how can we expect SGA to be the best it can be if the communication lacks? So with being able to be a team player, having great communication skills and knowing how things in SGA run allows me to applies those to being a vice president of SGA.

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