By Andrew Shuman ’19
News Editor
GCSA elections took place this past Friday after a Meet the Candidates event on Thursday night. Results were announced on Saturday with Freshman, Shineika Fareus, winning the only contested race.
The first person to be interviewed for the event was Olivia Rogan. Rogan is a Junior transfer student from Cornerstone University who ran for VP of Communications.
When asked to describe herself as well as her goals by GCSA President, Davis Metzger, she responded, “I am passionate about holistic health and would like to use marketing and communications to be an advocate for this lifestyle and seek to promote emotional health and well being. I’m looking to be involved with marketing PR, as well as Crisis management – but am interested in ethical aspects of marketing, as well as strongly advocating for do no harm, in response to human effect on the environment and carbon footprint.” Rogan was uncontested, and therefore won the position of VP of Communications.
Laura Bongiorno was next up in the interview process. Bongiorno, a Freshman with a double major in Secondary Education and English, ran for Representative at Large.
When asked by Metzger, “What does representation mean to you?” Bongiorno responded, “Representation is putting myself in a position to meet as many people as I can, to bring that personal aspect in, and to use my best judgment in order to vote on issues and make decisions.” Bongiorno was uncontested, and therefore won Representative at Large.
Jonathan Markgraaff, a Sophomore IA and Economics double major from the country of South Africa, interviewed third. Markgraaff started off by reflecting upon his current role and position that would play an integral role in helping him lead well.
“This year I have had the chance to be an RA at Gordon, and I am able to bring multiple sides of the conversation together.” Metzger asked Markgraaff, “What makes you want to do this?” Markgraaff responded, “I believe I am a rational, level headed student. I have enjoyed Gordon greatly so far, and now I want to see where there are opportunities for me to help.”
Shineika Fareus was fourth to speak in the interview process. Right away, Metzger prompted Fareus, “Tell us who are you, and why you are running.” to which Fareus responded, “I am from Haiti, and have been living in the U.S. for 6 years… I have faced a lot of challenges in moving here, but have learned to be proactive.” Fareus worked and advocated for social justice during high school by creating a program called the “We Want to Graduate Campaign.” Fareus continued explaining her vision for the Freshman class, as well as a campaign she has planned to initiate to involve the Freshman class called the ‘More Than Words Campaign.’ “As Freshman, we are leaders of today, not only the leaders of tomorrow, and we need to be proactive. My goal is for the Freshmen to come together, we are all new to this, so why not work together.” Fareus ran against Alec Hansen, and won the position of Freshman class Representative.
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