By: Justin Worthing ~Staff Writer~

Juniors Colleen Reynolds, Shelby Alig and Thomas Edney were elected to the 2014-15 Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Board last week.

This year set a record with the highest number of votes recorded in SGA history, totaling 1,531.

The Executives-elect are already feeling the weight of their new responsibilities and beginning to work on implementing their platform.

“What I’m most excited about is that we can already get to work,” President-elect Colleen Reynolds said. “We’re not sworn in until April, but we can already meet with administrators and (discuss) some of the ideas we’ve formulated. We’re also meeting with the current Executives now to start working on the budget process; that’s probably the biggest thing that we’ll be doing for the next few weeks.”

Reynolds is SGA’s first president who was not formerly a senator. She is also the first female president in four years.

“ (Edney and I) have never been involved in SGA, but (Alig) has, and I couldn’t think of a stronger senator,” Reynolds said of Alig. “She will be the Legislative Vice President and will be overseeing the senate. Having her will be really helpful.

“(Edney) is also a very strong leader. He served in the conduct board and is primarily known for being a part of the athletics department. Not being a part of SGA makes him unbiased in how SGA operates, and what he thinks could change in student government itself.”

In retrospect, Reynolds enjoyed the process but feels there should be some changes to some of the rules of campaigning.

“It was tough with four tickets, and I think students noticed the pressure on campus,” Reynolds said. “All the campaigns tried to make this as friendly as we could and make sure it was as genuine as we all could be.”

Reynolds also extends her gratitude to those who supported her team during the campaign.

“We are so grateful for our team putting in all the hours of work they did, really backing us up and getting out the word about our platform,” Reynolds said. “That is what made this the most enjoyable. Having that support coming from all sides, surrounded by people who believe in and stand for — we really, really appreciated that.”