This week Student Government Association (SGA) candidates for president, vice president and chief justice will be making their final cases before the student body.
Before then, however, The Lion’s Roar caught up with presidential candidates  Kayla Turner, a senior biological science major, and Gregory Crovetto, a junior communication major, for an in-depth look at their platforms.
Turner’s campaign is all about Southeastern Lion Pride and not only improving SGA’s services, but also expanding them beyond the student body.
“I want Southeastern students to be proud to call this their school and not just see it as just another option,” said Turner “I want the students enrolled to be active and engaged, and if they choose not to be I still want them to have fun with more SGA sponsored events during the day that are just fun. Also, I also don’t want to limit our services to just students but to faculty as well. Many teachers have come to me about issues that I believe a dedicated team of students and administrators can work together to fix.”
Turner also spoke of revamping Freshman Leadership Council.
“It’s been rocky as of late,” said Turner. “Graduating from a high school that was very involved in the community, I can completely understand the freshmen coming to Southeastern with a strong will to be active on campus.”
One of the major points that Turner made was that her administration, if elected, would work to fix broken policies and maintain those that have been successful.
“Though we talk about change, we don’t want to break anything that is working properly,” said Turner. “The online grants, appeals and elections systems have done wonders for the campus, and we’re looking for other ways to keep modernizing our organization and school.”
Turner ended with an assurance that she will take her presidency seriously, if elected.
“I want to be president not for the perks or for the position but to feel and to be sure that things are truly being accomplished,” said Turner. “I am well aware that many people look up to me, and I want to be the best role model I can be. I want to inspire and empower people who others tend to look over. There is so much talent and leadership at Southeastern, and it’s time to bring it out.”
Crovetto said that his campaign is based on the Seeking Opportunities to Act and Respond (SOAR) Initiative.
“We’re going to seek opportunities for Southeastern,” said Crovetto. “We’re going to act on those opportunities as they come and we’re going to respond to the student body, what the students want and what they’re looking for in their school.”
Crovetto also mentioned his stance on a smoke-free campus, the topic for this year’s presidential debate.
“I am not necessarily a huge supporter of a 100 percent smoke-free campus,” said Crovetto. “There are other campuses that were completely smoke free, such as Nicholls, where students tend to smoke even more. I’m not a smoker, but I don’t think that college students do well with a lot of rules put on them.”
Crovetto believes that the best solution to current problems with smoking, such as students smoking in areas where it is not allowed and cigarette butts littering the ground, will be fixed if the current rules are more heavily enforced.
However, if elected, the greatest challenge Crovetto believes he will face is increasing student participation in the SGA.
“The biggest thing we have to work on is getting more students involved with student government,” said Crovetto. “We didn’t have enough senators or justices run, the only people that will be on the ballot for students to choose are the top three. We did not do our job this year in getting students to actually want to run for SGA. We definitely have to get everyone more personable with SGA.”
The 2013 SGA Executive debate will be held in the Kiva Theatre in the Teacher Education Center on Wednesday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m.