The Penn State Behrend Student Government Association (SGA) held elections last week for a number of offices, including President, Vice President, Chief of Staff and many senator positions.

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On Wednesday the two teams of candidates for president and vice president went head to head in a debate. Sam Oliver, junior international business major, and Alex Oliver, junior plastics engineering major, ran against JP Jarecki, sophomore political science and English major, and Andy Sanford, junior biology major. The four answered various questions asked by current SGA members and students. Throughout the debate, all four candidates spoke about what they want to continue from the current administration and what they hope to improve during the next school year. They were also asked about time management, since all of the students are very involved in various organizations on campus. All four commented that they would make sure to make time for the position since it is of great importance.

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Elections were held on Thursday and Friday. Friday night, Jarecki and Sanford were notified that they won the President and Vice President positions.

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“I think there’s a point where it hits you, and for us that was pretty quickly on Friday night. We found out pretty late, so then it was exciting, but I was not necessarily nervous,” said Jarecki in a recent interview. “I think for me, Saturday morning waking up realizing okay, now we really gotta deliver on the promises that we made, we really got to get to work for the students, we really have to put the SGA back to work for you. That’s when it really hit me.”

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Sanford had similar sentiments to Jarecki, adding, “I’m really happy to see where we take this in the next year. There’s a lot of opportunities opening up.”

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When asked about whether they would like to work with Sam Oliver and Alex Oliver, both Jarecki and Sandford said yes. They agreed that the Olivers have many great ideas that they would like to adopt and work on. Sam and Alex both have worked extensively with SGA and Jarecki and Sanford hope to tap into that experience to make the SGA even better.

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Some of the main points of concern for the team’s campaign are improving accessibility on campus for students with disabilities, making the Blue Light system better, addressing the safety issue with Jordan road, and most importantly, working on being even more transparent with the inner workings of the SGA than the current administration has been.

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“I think student government should be, first and foremost, an accessible tool for students to have their questions answered,” said Jarecki. “It’s very possible that it’ll come to be something that I can’t do anything about, but at least there is that option and that voice.”

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Sanford discussed trying to get students out into the Harborcreek community more to let residents know that students want to have a positive effect on the area. Behrend just became part of an Adopt-A-Highway program in the area, which will be used to help give back.

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At the debate, both pairs running talked about encouraging clubs to work together more. This way, students can become involved with other students and create even better and bigger events.

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Overall, Jarecki and Sanford are excited for the opportunity to take on the challenge of SGA President and Vice President for the 2018-2019 school year. Hopefully they can make progress on the issues they outlined in their campaign and at the debate.