Students to Choose New SGA in Friday Elections

Students will soon select their new leaders for the 2014-15 school year at Cedarville. On Friday, Feb. 21, students will vote in the SGA elections to select the new president, vice president and chaplain.

The candidates for the presidency and vice presidency are Zach Curtis and Becca Davies running against JT Bennett and Allie Brown. The chaplain candidates are Stephen Clark and Andrew Gutberlet.

Did you enjoy super hero night or Downpour? You have Zach Curtis to thank for that. Curtis, president of the sophomore class and president of the HYPE (Helping You Promote Events) Committee, was the mastermind behind these events. Meanwhile, Davies has experience from her position as the SGA student life director.

Curtis spoke for himself and Davies when he said their mission as SGA candidates is to encourage progress. Curtis said the role to inspire gets overlooked and that they want to create an environment where people will embrace their “weirdness.” An avid collector of superhero comic books and action figures, Curtis said he is passionate about discovering random talents and interests of other students. One of their visions as a team is to broaden ELLIV so more students can participate.

Curtis said he really loves what Dylan Cimo and Grace Sincock have done with SGA, and their goal is to improve on the foundation Cimo and Sincock have created.

The team of Bennett and Brown is running on the slogans “A different approach to SGA” and “A different approach to you.” Bennett and Brown said that during the pursuit of their slogan, they brainstormed ways to make the SGA office more approachable. Their original idea was to put up a barrier in front of the mailboxes outside the SGA office so people would be forced to walk through the SGA office, back through student life, and then out again to get their mail, Sincock said. But, they said it was too much of a fire hazard, so they moved on to their next idea.

Both Bennett and Brown have been involved in several different ministries. Bennett is an RA for St. Clair. He took a year off from Cedarville to act as the youth director for Richard Mourdock’s U.S. Senate campaign in Indiana. Brown was the women’s ministry leader for her freshman and sophomore classes. She is also a member of the leadership council, which works closely with SGA. Both serve as discipleship group leaders. Brown said, “Being able to listen and learn from the student body would be an immense privilege that we look forward to.”

Overall, they said one of their biggest desires is to become more involved with the Nehemiah Foundation in Springfield. The Nehemiah Foundation is an umbrella organization that helps 26 different ministries.

Gutberlet, one of the chaplain candidates, is an RA and an Old Testament teacher’s assistant. He said that his greatest role model was Charlie Patton, a man from his church. Gutberlet said that every Sunday, Patton, well into his 90s, would smile and ask how God had been working in Gutberlet’s life that week.

Gutberlet’s favorite chapels are the yearly Fall Bible Conference chapels because they rekindle his desire for Christ. He said he wants to make SGA chapels “applicable messages that encourage the students to engage one another, our community and our culture for Christ.”

He said he is also really excited to emphasize communal prayer and worship next year. Overall, Gutberlet said he is looking forward to hearing amazing stories of how God has worked in someone’s life, coffee meetings to get to know students better and opportunities to see the community flourish.

Clark is the other candidate for SGA chaplain and the current sophomore class chaplain. He said he really enjoys class chapels.

“It’s really neat to see my peers speak and to get to support them and give them feedback,” Clark said.

He said he wants to increase student involvement in SGA chapels, “whether it be someone reading Scripture or an acting group doing skits or whatever the case may be.” He said he is excited to be involved at Cedarville and focus on the students because “that’s what the chaplaincy is about – not just preaching, but about ministering to others. And the ministering is often done outside of chapel itself.”

The election will take place during chapel on Friday.

Rae McKee is a freshman journalism major and reporter for Cedars. She has lived in South Dakota her whole life and absolutely loves running.