After a week of tabling, the SGA Big Three candidates spoke about their platforms at a candidate forum in the Student Union Breezeway on Thursday evening for the 2026 SGA elections.
Candidates for president, vice president and chief justice all spoke to attendees about their plans for office if they’re elected for the 2026-2027 school year.
Junior biology major Maria Nachaeva, the current SGA president, emphasized her experience serving in the role during the 2025-2026 school year. Her campaign slogan is “Momentum Means More,” and her goals include maximizing student engagement, amplifying student voices across campus and strengthening connections between students and administration.
Nechaeva said her time in office has helped her identify areas where growth is needed, particularly in student involvement.
“The most important thing I’ve learned is where we need growth. As president, I will grow our engagement, starting with our student organizations. I want to ensure that students feel full transparency when they register for classes and have faculty support for their student initiatives,” Nechaeva said.
When asked what message she has for students voting in the upcoming election, Nechaeva emphasized the importance of student input.
“Your voice matters. No matter how small, no matter how you feel, even if you think it’s very inconvenient, we want to know what it is, because that is what SGA is for,” she said.
Her opponent is senior English education major and former Miss Southeastern Eva Delatte. Her campaign slogan is “Let your Roar be Heard,” emphasizing student engagement and opinions in SGA decision-making.
“I don’t feel like every group on this campus is being accurately represented,” Delatte said.
In the 2024 and 2025 SGA elections, the eventual presidents ran unopposed. Delatte said she decided to enter the race this year because she wanted to address concerns she said she has been hearing from the student body and SGA members.
“I heard [the student body] had a lot of concerns about what was going on and what may continue to go on…I finally took a step up. Even though I was finished with Miss Southeastern, I wasn’t finished with what I had to offer the university,” Delatte said.
Zachary Edwards, a junior chemistry major running for vice president, said increasing awareness of the SGA Senate and improving student engagement are central to his campaign.
Edwards said many students are unaware of the Senate’s existence, which he believes limits its ability to effectively represent the student body.
“I am talking to students this week, and a lot of them are not aware that the Senate exists, and that’s a problem. The SGA is meant to represent the students, but how can that be done if the students aren’t even aware that it exists,” Edwards said.
His opponent, Kaleb Melancon, said his campaign is centered on fostering a positive campus culture and increasing awareness of the SGA.
“I really wanted to spread what SGA is about. [Let’s have] organizations utilize SGA and tell them what we’re about,” Melancon said.
Rejoice Adewale, a criminal justice major, is running for chief justice on a platform focused on improving clarity around campus parking policies.
“From my time as a justice and the conversations I’ve had with students these past few days, I have seen that one of the most common reasons why students keep getting parking citations is a lack of knowledge,” Adewale said.
Her opponent, Samantha Randall, a graduate psychology major, also identified parking communication as a key concern in her campaign.
Randall said her four years working at the university parking center, along with two years serving as a student justice, have shown her that confusion about parking rules frequently leads to appeals.
“One of the most common reasons I get parking appeals is because of the lack of knowledge,” Randall said.
Voting for the Spring 2026 SGA election closes at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25. SGA Chief Justice Kayla Edwards will announce the results in the Student Union Breezeway at 5 p.m. that Wednesday.
