At the conclusion of the freshman senator elections last Wednesday, freshmen nursing majors Taylor Petit and Trevor Vampran were named as the newest freshman representatives of the Student Senate.
Petit is a graduate of Hahnville High school in St. Charles Parish, where she participated in many school groups and activities. She was a member of the dance team, band, the special honors society, the beta honors society and the national honors society. She taught religion after school and was a freshman mentor. Petit says she plans for her college career to be no less eventful than that during her high school education.
“I just wanted to get involved,” said Petit. “Another senator, Hunter Robinson, told me about this, and it sounded great. I was really busy in high school, and I didn’t want to just sit around in the dorm.”
Unlike his new colleague, Vampran was not heavily involved at his school, St. Amant High School in Ascension Parish. In fact, he rarely attended because he was battling acute myeloid leukemia.
“I really wanted to get involved, but I missed a lot of school because of the cancer,” said Vampran. “I was diagnosed in my freshman year, and I returned during my junior year. Now that I’m in remission, I’m healthy, and I want to get involved at school here. I want to do as much as possible. I had plans before I was even elected.”
When his health improved, Vampran began advocating “Team Trevor,” which was originally a group made by his friends and family to support him during treatment. Now the group works with the American Cancer Society and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help sponsor cancer research. Vampran is also a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He hopes to direct their philanthropic efforts toward St. Jude and other cancer research. More information on Team Trevor can be found at www.teamtrevor.com.
Campaigning for both Petit and Vampran was largely done online through Facebook and email. There was also direct conversation; Petit stood before her Southeastern 101 class, made up of freshman, and asked them to vote for her. According to Student Government Association Chief Justice William Takewell, there was a small drop in votes compared to last year.
“It wasn’t really much, only about 10 votes or so,” said Takewell. “There was also the problem with the date change. The number of votes changes every year, but this year’s campaigning was more word of mouth; that probably affected the number.”
A total of 88 votes were cast; Vampran received 39, Petit received 31. The two competed against four other freshmen: Zachary Leblanc, Richie Mills, Kyle Johnson and Joe Passafume.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but 88 votes is a great number for a spur of the moment election,” Takewell said.