Joseph Shepard voted incoming student body president

Editor-in-Chief|April 3, 2015

Student Body President-elect Joseph Shepard has a celebratory moment with his friend, Blake Glasgow, following the announcement of the 2015-16 Student Government Association election results Friday at the Rhatigan Student Center.

When Joseph Shepard was named the new student body president Friday evening by outgoing Student Government Association Vice President Brandon Baltzell, there was an uproar of cheers.

The loudest of which seemed to come from Shepard himself, who started hugging friends and others who came to the announcement in the Rhatigan Student Center. In the moments leading up to the announcement, Shepard said he had prepared for the worst.

“I had pictured myself losing because I just wanted to prepare myself emotionally just in case that happened,” he said. “You always want to hope for the best, but prepare yourself for the worst.”

Shepard, along with Khondoker Usama, will replace outgoing Matthew Conklin and Baltzell as SGA president and vice president in May.

In addition to Senate positions being announced, an amendment to SGA’s announcement was also passed, with the required 7 percent of the student body voting in favor of it.

Conklin said the amendment will increase representation in Senate by increasing the number of senators available as determined by the population of the school and the colleges. It was passed with the intention of increased representation and diversity in Senate, he said.

Conklin expressed surprise at the number of students who voted for the amendment.

“It really showed people were invested and interested to see themselves represented,” he said.

Manon Marcotte, the presidential candidate on the Marcotte Glasscock ticket, said she was disappointed by the outcome, but she does have plans to move forward.

“Honestly, I had come up with ideas on how to move forward because I knew somebody was going to lose and somebody was going to win,” she said. “So whatever the case was, I thought, ‘I have plans, I have things that I really want to do with the university.’”

She said she plans to move forward in a different way, including possibly working in student groups to help make the vision of her campaign come true.

For Shepard, the whole situation is an exciting moment, he said. He said he looks forward to serving as student body president.

“I’m excited, I’m grateful, I’m humbled,” he said. “I’m just so grateful for the opportunity, because this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I will never forget this moment.”

Full SGA Elections results

President/Vice President: Joseph Shepard and Khondoker Usama (Shocker Alliance)
Business Senator: Michael Schultz (Marcotte Glasscock)
Education Senator: Jessica Packard (Marcotte Glasscock)
Engineering Senators: Taben Azad (Shocker Alliance); Esra Barut (Marcotte Glasscock)
Fine Arts Senator: Rian Leigh (Marcotte Glasscock)
Health Professions Senator: Bethany Heintz (Marcotte Glasscock)
LAS Senators: LaRissa Lawrie, Kavya Natesan, Demetrius Sterlin (Shocker Alliance); Lauren McGuire (Marcotte Glasscock)
Honors Senator: Kaylee Bell (Marcotte Glasscock)
Graduate Senator: Amir Zabihi, Mustafa Kazim (Shocker Alliance)

At-Large Senators