By Allison Daze, sophomore
For the first time in three years, Friends University’s Student Government Association will have a new executive president.
Junior Erin Tombaugh was elected to the position in an uncontested race earlier this week.
Tombaugh will replace Roman Rodriguez, who has been in the position for three years. He supports Tombaugh and is glad to see her take over.
“The organization is in good hands,” he said. “I am very happy and pleased to hand the position over to Erin Tombaugh.”
Tombaugh’s involvement with SGA began her sophomore year as a member of the FACE classics committee. This year, she served as the president of Falcon Student Organizations, a branch of SGA.
“I really enjoyed being the president of FSO and leading the organizations, but then the opportunity came up for me to run for executive president,” she said. “Now I am really excited to get to work with all three branches and serve the student body.”
Though Rodriguez will no longer be executive president, he is not stepping away from SGA. He will still be on the Executive Council as the executive publicist.
The Executive Council is a seven-member council that oversees all of SGA. It is made up of the executive president, executive business manager, executive secretary, executive publicist, and the individual presidents of the three branches of SGA (Senate, Falcon Activities and Campus Events, and FSO).
Executive president was one of four offices up for election. President of Senate, President of FSO and Executive Secretary were also on the ballot. The remaining three positions—president of FACE, executive business manager, and executive publicist—were chosen by a selection committee.
Though all of this year’s elected races were uncontested, voting was still considered necessary to allow for possible write-ins, said Tombaugh.
Tombaugh and Rodriguez will be the only returning members of the 2010-2011 SGA Executive Council. The others have all been involved in other capacities but have not previously served at the executive level.
• President of Senate will be Ryan Alvarado. Alvarado is a sophomore finance major and business administration minor. He has served on the 2009-2010 Student Senate as the Division of Business and Information Technology senator.
• President of FSO will be Shayn Guillemette. Guillemette is a junior English drama major and is the current president of the Drama Club.
• President of FACE will be Kayla Loper. She is a sophomore double majoring in mathematics and computer information systems. She has served as the 2009-2010 FACE director of finance.
• Executive secretary will be Donna Mally. She is a sophomore music education major and has served as the 2009-2010 FACE director of marketing and membership.
• Executive business manager will be Taylor Hoppock. He is a sophomore majoring in accounting and business administration. He is the current president of Students In Free Enterprise, a Friends University student club.
All new officers will be sworn into office during a ceremony performed by Friends University President Biff Green on April 20.
Tombaugh is looking forward to working with the 2010-2011 Executive Council.
“It’s going to be a really good group,” she said. “I’m excited.”