All four members of the outgoing Student Government Association executive slate shed tears as they gave their closing speeches and prepared to swear-in their successors Wednesday afternoon during SGA's inauguration ceremony.
"One thought I've had every year at every inauguration is, 'Why in the world are all these people crying? This is a job. You don't cry at your job,'" Mary Karner, outgoing secretary, said in her remarks. "But I totally get it now."
Karner slipped into tears as she described, to a L.A. Pittenger Student Center Cardinal Hall full of SGA senators, friends and family members, the whirlwind she said the last year as an executive has been.
"SGA is not your average job or student organization," Karner said. "It's something you pour your heart and every spare second into. It's a place where you can see real change happen, change you helped create. And over the years and many hours of work, it becomes your family on campus."
Applause at the end of the meeting rang loud as senators bid farewell to Catalyst and welcomed the new slate, Alliance. Senator Janelle Lemish, a senior English studies major, said seeing all the emotion during the ceremony was a good sign.
"It shows that they have so much love and so much strength in this organization," she said. "I'm glad we had Catalyst to look up to in SGA."
Lemish said she looks forward to watching Alliance build on its platform points and lead SGA, but said she expects to see the slate have to reconcile some of its goals with what is actually possible - something she said often happens when new leaders begins to take the reigns of a government or organization.
"Sometimes you want to have all your cake and eat it at once," Lemish said. "You can have something great - you can have these great ideas - but then you find out later that they're not what you think they were. I think they're going to be surprised when they find that out."
Regardless, Lemish said she believes Alliance will do just fine as it continues to work with Catalyst to execute a seamless leadership transition. In her remarks, outgoing President Kayla Stanton advised the members of Alliance to remember that their power to make a difference on campus comes not from their titles or name tags or office space, but from how they work with the students of Ball State. After the ceremony, Stanton said she trusts the new slate completely.
New President Chris Wilkey said he is looking forward to gaining valuable information and advice during the four-hour transition retreat the members of Alliance and Catalyst will be taking together on Friday. Wilkey also said he anticipates having to adjust Alliance's platform points to better match what could be practically possible and is not considerably worried about it.
"Our platform was designed with feasibility in mind, and we realize that it's not going to be foolproof," Wilkey said. "One of our big things is going to be to be flexible and to realize that we may have an idea but there may be a set of rules we have to follow to get to it."
Outgoing Treasurer Megan Gish said one of the most important things Alliance can do as an executive slate is to be flexible and willing to adapt to unexpected circumstances.
"Learning to change the situation, learning to overcome when things go wrong and assess where you need to go [are very important]," Gish said. "We adapted to adding new programming, to readjusting the budget ... Hopefully the next slate can adjust as well as we thought we did."
In a speech immediately after being inaugurated, Wilkey expressed his desire to leave a legacy on campus through Alliance and SGA. He compared the upcoming year to an episode of the television show "Iron Chef America," where he and his slate members are the chefs, their platform is the menu and the their goals for the year are the meal they plan to serve. He said the secret ingredient - the key to their success - will be the relationships they build with senators, administration and students.
Heather Closson, Alliance's vice president, and secretary Brittany Weaver said they're already starting to feel the responsibilities of their new positions settling in. They've scheduled meetings, sorted paperwork, sent emails and spoken with senators.
"It's not like we're easy riding for a little bit," Weaver said. "No, we're already working."
Karner said Alliance should be prepared for a crazy and busy year full of intense experiences. She advised them to cherish every moment.
"Soak it all up," Karner said. "Never lose sight of your goals and the real reason you guys are doing this: to better this campus and serve its students. This experience will change your life and make you better than you ever thought you could be."
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