Catalyst sat through its final Student Government Association meeting as president pro tempore and senators Wednesday as the slate will take office at the next SGA meeting in two weeks.
Until then, Catalyst will prepare to put in action their platform points in order to hit the ground running once they take office.
President-elect Kayla Pickersgill said the most important platform point the slate is ready to hold is its promise to reorganize the budget.
"That is something that is vital to a lot of the other points that we have," she said. "A lot of the change that SGA can make revolves around that budget and being able to have money readily available and easily accessible for senators and for students."
Catalyst is adamant on reorganizing the budget because the discretionary fund was not used up at the end of the current slate's cycle. About $3,000 will be rolled over to Catalyst from Student Connection, treasurer Ronnie Bell said.
"It is about reorganizing it and recategorizing it," treasurer-elect Megan Gish said. "We want to be as efficient as possible and make sure we're utilizing funds in the best way that we can."
Catalyst's platform points revolve around four main topics: communication and transparency, school pride, student services and community, and student sustainability.
Vice President-elect Chris Buck said he thinks Catalyst's most original group of platform points falls under school pride, with activities such as a T-shirt trade-in and a "start your day with SGA" breakfast.
"We want students to be comfortable with us and know that we're here, too, and we're their senators," he said. "We're kind of reaching out in an informal way where students can get excited about their government."
Another platform point Catalyst plans to begin work on immediately is working with Student Action Team to contribute in any way they can towards their Day of Service on April 15 and April 16.
Current vice president Whitney Hamblin said she wasn't surprised when she found out Buck would fill her position. She said they had a conversation about his interest in the vice presidential position shortly after she was elected last year.
"[Buck] pulled me aside and [told me], ‘I love this organization. This is something I want to do. I know that I want to run on a slate, and I know the vice presidential role is something I am very interested in,'" she said. "When they found out the results last night, he called me and it was kind of an emotional conversation just because we had talked about it before."
President Matt Whitlock said he has confidence Pickersgill will take over his responsibilities with ease.
"I think Kayla is going to do a great job," he said. "To be honest, I think either one would have done a fabulous job. Kayla knows the organizations in and out."
Pickersgill said they have spoken with administration to see that every platform point they have is realistic.
"We've said before we didn't want to run a shock and awe campaign," she said. "We don't want to just tell students all the amazing wonderful new that we can bring. What we want to do is work to build a lot of the organizations that are already on campus."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
