After weeks of campaigning, and three days of student voting, the final results are in.

Chris Lewallen, a business management senior from Alderson, will be the next president; and Ron Cheng, a political science junior from Morgantown, will be the next vice president of West Virginia University’s Student Government Association. Both were members of the PIRATE party, which won all but three positions on the Board of Governors.

“I’m excited to get to work,” Lewallen said. “My two best friends were previous SGA presidents and after working closely with them, I’m ready to make a change for this University.”

The results were announced by James Bailey, current attorney general for SGA, at 8 p.m. on Thursday (Feb. 25) in the food court area of the Mountainlair.

“We will never be able to achieve perfection, but that is not the problem. The problem occurs when we stop trying to achieve perfection,” Cheng told his running mates in a pep talk before the results were announced.

“My team is never going to stop trying,” he said.

The three Mountaineer Choice candidates who won a spot on the Board of Governors are Jason Bailey, an international studies junior from Ripley; Garret Robinson, an accounting sophomore from New Martinsville; and Madison Andreini, an industrial engineering sophomore from Wheeling.

The12 PIRATE party candidates that won are Ahmad Alashi, a general engineering sophomore from Amman, Jordan; Rashad Bates, a sports management sophomore from Vineland, N.J. ; Allison Rollins, a chemistry sophomore from Point Pleasant; Tracy Speilman, a nursing junior from Beckley; Olivia Audia, an accounting junior from Millbrook, N.Y. ; Ryan Campione, an engineering freshman from Morgantown; Charlie Russell, a biochemistry junior from Morgantown; Evan Bonnstetter, a business and economics sophomore from Morgantown; Megan Callaghan, a psychology sophomore from Charleston; Josh “Chief” Snyder, a political science and history senior from Charleston; Kyle Hess, a business management sophomore from Morgantown; and Ali Mols, a psychology sophomore from North Huntingdon, Pa..

Alashi, an international student, ran for the Board of Governors so that he could make the transition to WVU easier for students coming in from other countries.

“Being an international student, it means a lot that the students at WVU voted for me, and I’m so happy,” Alashi said.

The new members of SGA will take office starting in the fall semester of 2010.

-WVU-

ep/2/26/10

CONTACT: Sue Henry, Student Organizations
304-293-4397, Sue.Henry@mail.wvu.edu