Candidates for the next West Virginia University Student Government Association dropped their banners in the Mountainlair late Sunday night, signaling the start of this year’s campaign season.
This year, two parties with tickets that are each composed of 19 students, will be running for the following positions: president, vice president, governor and athletic council. The parties have classified themselves as the Golden Ticket and the United Party.
Campaigning begins today. The candidate’s debate will be held April 9 at 7 p.m. in the Mountainlair food court and is sponsored by The Daily Athenaeum. All students are encouraged to attend.
The election takes place April 10-12 at different voting spots across campus. The results of the election will be announced on April 12 at 9 p.m. in the Mountainlair.
The Golden Ticket is led by Rashad Bates and Devin Sears.
Bates is a senior finance major from Vineland, N.J., who has spent much of the last two semesters as SGA vice president. He has served as the president of the Sport Management Club and was a student representative for the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences advisory committee. He has been a part of SGA since 2010 and has helped make WVUp All Night a premiere party alternative for students. He also served on the Mountaineer Week committee and is a student representative on the Student Affairs Hall of Fame selection committee.
Sears is a junior public relations major from Fairmont, who is the current communications director of SGA. She founded “Her Campus WVU,” an online magazine, which led to a national leadership honor. She is also the public relations manager for the national magazine “Gladys.” This summer, she will intern under the head of communication department for Sen. Joe Manchin. She is a sister of Chi Omega Sorority, where she held the executive position of panhellenic delegate. She currently serves as the Make-A-Wish chair.
The Golden Ticket plans to: help showcase the school’s positive sportsmanship and relationships by a student-led “Meet 5” program at athletic events, fight for discounted rates for test prep courses and raise awareness of WVU through signage and advertisements for prospective students, guests and others who visit campus.
The following are members of the Golden Ticket for a board of governor position: Ryan Campione, Joshua Cooper, Nicole Crane, Brice Dang Nsongue, Matthew “Dell” Dellinger, Patrick Garcia, David “Tyler” George, Sarah Gottshall, Earl Hewitt, Makayla Lewis, Christopher Nyden, Tiffany Pratt, Summer Ratcliff, Unaiza Riaz and Shiva Shafii.
The following are members of the Golden Ticket for an athletic council position: Brady Tucker and John Williams.
Golden Ticket board of governor candidates
Campione is a junior industrial engineering major from Morgantown and is seeking re-election to the board of governors. His platform is improved information services. He hopes to create a centralized information help service for the WVU community.
Cooper is a senior dual advertising and philosophy major from Clarksburg. His platform is student welfare and safety. He hopes to extend the “blue light” system and improve many other security programs that are currently in place.
Crane is a sophomore dual chemistry and political science major from Charleston and is seeking re-election to the board of governors. Her platform is health and wellness. She plans to expand vegetarian offerings at dining halls and increase healthy food options and sexual assault education on campus.
Dellinger is a senior dual political science and history from Martinsburg. Her platform is student legal services. He plans to use his personal experiences to inform students of the options available to them.
Garcia is a sophomore biology major from Fairmont. His platform is fine arts. He hopes to improve the utilization of the arts on the downtown campus by providing new ways to explore the arts like sound-proof and open-art rooms.
George is a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Elkins. His platforms are student community involvement and technological advancements and innovations. He hopes to encourage students to take part in community activities and politics.
Gottshall is a freshman pre-forensics major from Lewisburg. His platform is sustainability awareness. She hopes to educate students through adding chapters, such as recycling, to a freshman class and schedule regular campus-wide cleanups.
Hewitt is a junior petroleum and natural gas engineering major from Indiana, Pa. His platform is off-campus housing. He hopes to improve communication between local landlords and students by working with Sunnyside Up and landlords to ensure safe housing and fair prices.
Lewis is a freshman public relations major from Inwood. Her platform is WVU afterhours. She hopes to extend library hours.
Nsongue is a junior dual geology and petroleum and natural gas engineering major from Cameroon, Africa. His platform is international issues. He hopes to increase the number of available scholarships for international students, help students study abroad and broaden students’ overall knowledge in international relations.
Nyden is a sophomore economics major from Charleston. His platform is college affordability. He hopes to focus on increasing the transparency of textbook prices by having projected prices available when scheduling for classes.
Pratt is a sophomore political science major from Huntington and is seeking re-election to the board of governors. Her platform is military issues. She hopes to continue her work lobbying for the addition of a military absence policy, launch an awareness campaign and push for a student veteran’s center.
Ratcliff is a sophomore dual law and legal studies and political science major from Bunker Hill. Her platform is parking and transportation. She hopes to make parking and transportation safer and more efficient by extending the late-night Mountain Line bus routes.
Riaz is a sophomore international studies major from Charleston. His platform is law school visibility. He hopes to raise awareness of clinics and other programs available to students at the law school and to extend the cafeteria hours.
Shafii is a junior music performance major from Charleston. Her platform is awareness of the creative arts. She hopes to fuse mainstream music with classical instruments and trained voices in showcases on campus to spark the interest of the student body.
Golden Ticket athletic council candidates
Tucker is a junior accounting major from Morgantown. His platform is intramural and club sports. He hopes to make a more appealing atmosphere for intramural sports by marketing sportsmanship and responsible behavior and to promote intramural and club sports to the student body to increase awareness.
Williams is a sophomore political science major from Morgantown. His platform is athletic ticket system. He hopes to improve the student ticket distribution system and offer students more options and avenues of securing a ticket.
The United Party is led by Zach Redding and Jarred Zuccari.
Redding is a junior political science major from Hanover, Pa., who is a current board of governor. As a governor, he helped pass a sustainability resolution and played a key role in organizing Sustainability Awareness Day and Sustainability Awareness Week. He also took part in a campus-wide waste audit to collect data at dining halls.
Zuccari is a junior multidisciplinary studies major from Fairfax, Va., who is current a member of the athletic council. In that position, he worked on beer sales in the football stadium and joined efforts to secure more field space and funding for club sports. He is the Vice President of Young West Virginians for Coal.
The United Party plans to: instill the fundamentals back into SGA so that it can grow and prosper with prestige and integrity, tackle issues pertaining to increasing awareness for bullying and social justice on campus, curb unacceptable student behavior and work to complete the student health facility and provide affordable health insurance for uninsured students.
The following are members of the United Ticket for a board of governor position: Abdulaziz “Aziz” Alshammari, Bridgette Boyd, Molly Callaghan, Jason Cohen, Zachary Eichelberger, Christian Guy, Dillian Knox, Matthew Kopcsak, Devon Lopez, Kartik Motwani, Andrea Mucino, Joseph Reidy, Morgan Riddle, Kylie Sphar and John Wellford.
The following are members of the United Ticket for an athletic council position: Zachary Lusher and Stephanie Rosnick.
United Party board of governor candidates
Alshammari is a senior industrial engineering major from Saudi Arabia. His platform is international student assistance. He hopes to work with the Office of International Students and Scholars, the Intensive English Program, the Office of International Programs and the International Student Organization to help assimilate international students to American culture and develop a multi-culture center at WVU.
Boyd is a junior dual economics and political science major from Charleston and is seeking re-election to the board of governors. Her platform is retention of at-risk students. She hopes to continue to oversee the mentorship program and plans to improve scholarship and internship awareness.
Callaghan is a freshman chemical engineering major from Charleston. Her platform is campus bullying. She hopes to continue efforts of previous administrations toward regulating towing, as well.
Cohen is a junior political science major from Raleigh, N.C. His platform is campus technology. He hopes to improve technology on campus and intends to work with the Office of Information Technology to bring wireless internet to those buildings who do not support it.
Eichelberger is a freshman business major from Cranberry Township, Pa. His platform is sexual assault prevention. He hopes to introduce more focus on sexual assault prevention during a student’s first year on campus.
Guy is a junior industrial engineering major from Clarksburg. His platform is local government relations. He hopes to work with local government in order to give students greater influence on what takes place in the city that directly affects students.
Knox is a sophomore finance major from San Diego. His platform is SGA transparency. He hopes to publish all accounting and financial records of SGA and change the grant process to help clubs and organizations.
Kopcsak is a sophomore political science major from Washington D.C. His platform is quality of life on campus. He hopes to get information out to the general population more effectively and to have more student involvement with the University.
Lopez is a junior public relations major from Charleston. Her platform is overall improvements. She hopes to work eagerly with school and community leaders to improve various aspects of the University.
Motwani is a freshman chemistry major from Hurricane. His platform is wireless Internet on campus. He hopes to take further steps to create a student-friendly Internet presence on campus with reliable service.
Mucino is a junior international business major from Morgantown. Her platform is traditions. She hopes to incorporate new and old traditions into WVU events and create new ways to show positive school spirit. She would like to improve the safety of Fall Fest and bring back Spring Fest.
Reidy is a sophomore political science major from Hedgesville. His platform is class scheduling. He hopes to work with the Office of the University Registrar to ensure registering for classes becomes easier for students.
Riddle is a freshman international studies major from Ripley. Her platform is study abroad awareness. She hopes to work with the Office of International Studies to increase the opportunity and awareness of study abroad opportunities and improving the application process.
Sphar is a junior accounting major from Morgantown. Her platform is alcohol education on campus. She hopes to create and implement an alcohol amnesty program at WVU.
Wellford is a senior dual international business and marketing major from Charleston. His platform is student opinions. He hopes to provide a medium through which current students can share their views and voice opinions.
United Party athletic council candidates
Lusher is a freshman marketing major from Huntington. His platform is football ticketing. He hopes to create a more efficient entryway for football games with kiosks for student IDs rather than the current paper system.
Rosnick is a junior public relations major from Weirton. Her platform is alcohol sales at athletic events. She hopes to re-organize alcohol sales at football games and initiate sales at the Coliseum.
For more information on SGA, visit http://sga.wvu.edu/. For more information on the Golden Ticket, visit http://thegoldenticketwv.com/ and follow it on Twitter @THEGOLDENTICKETWV. For more information on the United Ticket, visit http://ReddingZuccari2012.com/ and follow it on Twitter @reddingzuccari.
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