SGA announced the winners of Thursday’s elections early Friday morning.
Abbey Widick won the presidential race and earned 67 percent of the vote for student body president. Laredo Loyd, Widick’s only competitor, received 31 percent of the student’s vote.
Widick said she is excited about what lies ahead of her, from meeting even more people on this campus by making herself accessible to the student body and pursuing their desires.
“Getting to wake up every day and work my heart out for TCU will be an absolute blast,” Widick said. “I am so incredibly proud of our campaign team, and the passion, joy, and ethics that we campaigned with. Ben has been an incredible role model and I’ll be sad to see this cabinet go, but am incredibly excited to carry the momentum into next year.”
Widick first heard the good news from Chancellor Victor Boschini around 9 a.m.
While his campaign ended in defeat, Loyd is excited for the future of SGA.
“I think with the incredible amount of potential in the younger classes and the opportunity for incredible leadership from the upperclassmen,” Loyd said. “This could be the beginning of a beautiful new era for SGA and the students they represent.”
Each candidate running unopposed won Friday and received at least 85 percent of the vote.
Kat Nestor earned the seat of vice president of operations with 87 percent in support.
“I am honored and excited to serve as vice president of operations,” Nestor said. “I have a very special place in my heart for TCU, but it is not without its imperfections and struggles. We must constantly be willing to analyze and improve the things we love most. I do not possess the words to describe how grateful I am to have this opportunity.”
Will Jezek will be next year’s vice president of external affairs with 86 percent of the vote and McKenzie Keetch saw 85 percent of the vote, granting her next year’s position as treasurer.
“TCU, thank you so much for electing me as your next vice president of external affairs,” Jezek said. “As your next VP, I want to make myself as accessible as possible to listen to your needs and enact real change in SGA. I am looking forward to getting to work and I am honored to be in this position. Go Frogs!”
Yesterday during her campaign, Keetch asked students what they would like to see from her as treasure. She said she would take every single request to heart once she steps into office in the fall.
“I am incredibly honored to serve as treasurer for the 2018-2019 school year,” Keetch said. “Your support and kindness over the past couple of weeks has been a beyond humbling experience. As promised, please come to me with any questions, ideas, or comments you may have or want to share. Your opinion is what matters. Let’s do big things, TCU!”
The vice president of external affairs focuses on connecting SGA’s resources to the local community, according to Jezek, while the vice president of operations is focused on making TCU a better place, internally.
In total, 3,479 students voted in the election. All numbers and statistics are courtesy of Sydney Pickral, SGA’s elections and regulations chair.
Along with the four student body officers, SGA also rounded out next year’s House of Student Representatives with six class representatives and 46 representatives from each college.
Eric Garza and Alexis Hood will represent the class of 2019, Preston Hughes and Trevon Thomas will represent the class of 2020 and Jack Leonhard and CJ Ervin will represent the class of 2021.
The Honors College will have six representatives in House: Alaina Jerguson, Allie Strehle, Christian Tjoa, Clayton Dana-Bashian, Kataryna Kewyckyj and Tucker Wilkie.
The Neeley School of Business, the largest group of representatives in House, consists of 11 representatives: Chandler Mertz, Hutch Hershberger, Kelli Pedersen, Kendall Graff, Kendall Krumme, Matt Williams, My Nguyen, Paige Shiring, Ryal Reddick, Ryan Chandler and Sarah Goldberg.
The smallest sampling of representatives comes from the College of Education with just two representatives: Kennedy Braun and Ontario Brown.
Jacque Lenarz, Katie Kovarik, Kyle Atwood, Marco Oropeza, Morgan Williams and Nicholas Rinehart will represent the AddRan College of Liberal Arts.
Nine students will represent the College of Science and Engineering: Alex West, Andrew McClurg, Angela Gallo, Edwin Tachiri, Eric Estrada, Irene Kwihangana, Josh Witkop, Shank Saravatand Sierra Powe.
Alison Armstrong, Caroline Woodward and Patton Maynard were selected to represent the College of Fine Arts.
The Harris College of Nursing will have four representatives: Charity Mason, Charlee Bisch, Cole Givens and Nicole Gorretta.
Abby Vernacchia, Catherine Forte, Laine Zizka, Sydney Pickral and Vivian Noyd were selected to represent the Bob Schieffer College of Communication.
