Madison Kwiecinski 

News Editor 

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

The Student Government Association, or SGA, is the governing body of the Penn State Behrend student population. The SGA page states that, “We shall strive to give voice to the student body on opinions of academic and co-curricular affairs; to support such academic and co-curricular activities that contribute to the enhancement of the social and intellectual life of students; to represent the interests of the student body to the administration, faculty and staff; and to support the rights of students in all matters.” The quote above defines the primary goals of SGA, an important organization in Behrend student life. 

Each year, SGA holds elections to determine who the new President and Vice President of the club will be, as well as to elect several Senators and other positions. This year, Matt Strupczewski and Madison Geis both ran for president, with Luke Warner and Sabrina Ritteger running for Vice president. Matt and Luke ran together representing one side of the ticket, while Madison and Sabrina ran together representing the other. 

On April 6, a SGA Presidential debate was held for the candidates to formally debate their platforms prior to the election. 

SGA also has an official instagram page with the handle @behrend_sga. Each campaign was given the opportunity for a “SGA takeover” during which they were able to post on the SGA instagram page in order to promote themselves as candidates. Both campaigns posted personal videos in which they directly address the audience and inform them of their positions. Additionally, a livestream of the debate can be found on the SGA instagram for anyone still interested in viewing it and learning more about their future President and Vice President Platform. 

On April 7 at 8:00 a.m. voting went live, and any Penn State Behrend student could vote. Elections closed at 5:00 p.m. the next day, April 8. The candidates all spent these two days largely focused on campaigning, walking around campus and encouraging students to vote for their next representative. 

On Tuesday, April 12th the results of the election were sent out to students, and congratulations are owed to new SGA President Matt Strupczewski and Vice President Luke Warner! The email announced several other prominent SGA positions, including the new Chief of Staff Michal Bosek and the new University Faculty Senate Representative Mitchel Ray. 

Additionally, several new Senators were elected into SGA, including; Sabrina Ritteger, Madison Geis, Hunter Kamensky, Garret Watson, Mason Miilard, Allsyn O’Connor, Jordan Morschhauser, Grace Mumo, Nick Fisher, and Siddharth Pandya. A follow-up article will appear in the next addition of the Beacon on the SGA elections, hopefully giving readers an opportunity to hear directly from some of these students what they hope to do in these positions and what they have accomplished.