Left: Allyson Bowers (left) and Jacky Yoo (right) were announced as the 2011-2012 president and vice president of George Mason’s student government. Right: Yoo celebrates after being named vice president.
Allyson Bowers and Jacky Yoo will be the 2011–2012 student body president and vice president, respectively.
“The first tangible thing that Jacky and I want to work on is the selection of the next president of the university,” Bowers said, “and making sure that it’s someone that would encompass all the things and all the desires, the wants and the needs that the student body needs.”
If there was one word that all the candidates used to describe their campaign plans, it was “transparency.”
“One thing that’s really important to us is creating a sense of community in Mason,” Bowers said, “and Gold Rush 365 is one of the ways we’re hoping to do that.”
With plans for Gold Rush T-shirts and to amp Mason spirit for all sports, not just basketball, Bowers is looking forward to seeing student involvement.
“If anyone would like to design a shirt for Gold Rush 365, I’d love to see it,” Bowers said. “I’m hoping that that’s the first initiative that students can really see and get together on, you know, to really get students to get excited.”
Enthusiasm aside, Bowers recognizes that there are difficulties ahead, and is ready to face them head on.
“Looking at who SGA’s composed of, it’s exciting because everyone is new, but a lot of people lack experience,” Bowers said. “We have to try not to hit the refresh button but really be able to hit the ground running with all new people, even if you’re new and still learning.”
Several committee chairs had to step down over the past year for personal reasons, but Bowers assures that it isn’t just about people not wanting to do their jobs and that proper training of replacements is still important.
“Almost every chair this past year had to step down, and every time someone stepped down it was for a legitimate reason,” Bowers said. “People are very driven in SGA, but if they recognize that it’s preventing them from succeeding academically then they know what they have to do … and you have to make sure that even though you’re stepping down, you’re still properly training your replacement.”
With International Week kicking off, and the controversy over certain flags not being flown, Bowers is already taking measures to ensure that a solution is met.
“[KSO] came to Student Government asking for our help, and we can’t just overturn anything set by the university, but we can strongly encourage [them], so we wrote a resolution that was just passed in the senate.”
The resolution aims to recognize student organizations on campus that are already allowed to participate in all aspects of International Week and give them the ability to fly their flag.
This year’s election was an exciting time, even with roughly 1,000 votes less than last year, and Bowers is still in awe about the whole thing.
“It’s still unreal to me,” Bowers said. “Thank you for giving Jacky and I the opportunity to serve the university to the best of our ability. That being said, we can’t do that without your input … nothing can be done without the students. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what we want. It’s what the students wants.”
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