Student elections for positions on the college’s Executive Board are coming up, and many would like to know more information about the jobs available on the Student Government committee. David Grim, student executive board president and a senior, offers his take on why Student Government is an essential part of life at Juniata.

1. Why do you think Student Government is important at Juniata?

It’s a small community where you have a great opportunity to interact with the faculty staff and administration on campus. The student government acts as liaison between those positions and the students. So it allows for students to voice their opinions and as well as a body to appropriate funds to clubs and other activities on campus.

2. Do you feel like interest has waned in student government?

That is always an issue that student government and all governments in general face. Since I have been here we have been fairly lucky in terms of having representation over a wide spectrum of different groups of friends and clubs and officer positions which allows interest to be spread out to different people on campus.

3. What are some of the problems that you faced in Student Government that you feel future Executive Boards should be prepared for?

The one thing that has always been important is increasing transparency. What we attempted to do this year is make our agendas available to the student body as well as any votes that occur in student government. When there are events that we are sponsoring or co-sponsoring, we do our best to keep them updated on daily announcements e-mails and our Facebook page.

4. What are the positions that a student can run for and who can run?

There are five executive board positions and all those offices oversee the student senate. There is president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and IT officer. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors can run for this position.

5. What makes a good candidate for executive board president?

Someone that is willing to commit the time that it takes to hold such a position as well as someone who has experience in leadership positions and offices in other clubs or other activities on campus. It is important to have a wide spectrum of experiences.

Corey Lacey ’14, Juniata Online Journalist