There was only one outright winner in the first round of freshman class election, with the top two vote recipients for five offices – Class of 2005 president, vice president, secretary, historian and social secretary – ready to square off in a runoff Oct. 1-2.
Kelly Howard, who received 231 votes, or 29 percent, will face T.J. Waller, who received 200 votes, or 25 percent, for Class of 2005 president. Both candidates cited religion as a motivating factor for their desire to serve.
“I want to be a good witness though Christ,” Waller said. “Our class is going to have a great time, and I want to be there to facilitate and make sure things get done that need to be done.”
“I want to serve God through serving our class and to represent the whole freshman student body and not just one,” Howard said.
Timothy Soeken was elected Class of 2005 treasurer with 359 votes, or 51 percent. Lauren Rossman, Precious Atlas, Alex Lee and Amy Gray were elected to represent the freshman class in the Student Senate.
Lee, a general studies major, said he ran for the senate to protest the unfairness of the Corps of Cadets meal plan, which requires cadets to eat lunch on certain days at Duncan Dining Hall.
“Its a ripoff because they take away our meals whether we’re able to make it to Duncan or not,” Lee said. “If they improved the food there they wouldn’t have to force cadets to eat there.”
Precious Atlas and Tommy Slocum, Jr. will meet in the runoff for Class of 2005 vice president. The runoff for secretary is between Jared Grisham and Amy Anderson, for social secretary it is between Christopher White and Alison Lynch, and for Historian it is between Courtney Wall and Courtney Fairchi.
“I will keep campainging for vice-president, but if I don’t make it I’ll work really hard in the Senate to represent my fellow freshman,’ she said.
Slocum, who is in the Corps, said he is hoping to build on his support from fellow cadets.
“I did a lot of outside campaigning, and a lot of my buddies voted for me,” he said.