Five students will be running in this year’s Student Government Association election on March 13, 2016 at Nicholls State University.

Two candidates, Meah Johnson and Tommy Thibodaux will be running for president. Darian Graivshark, Abigail Ledet and Austin Wendt will be running for vice-president.
Meah Johnson is a rising business pre-law senior from Houma. After serving as a Nicholls SGA senator for three years and four years as student council president of her high school, she felt a strong desire to run for president in this year’s election.

“I think our school is in a place where it needs some sort of re-vamping. We’re becoming more of a commuter school, and there’s not as much to keep students here after classes,” Johnson said.

With the state of the current budget, Johnson would like to put an emphasis on maximizing the Nicholls experience in small ways.

“We recently had a function hosted by an organization on campus. Because we’re such a small unit, it should be more of a big fish small pond situation. There’s no reason we can’t have 100 percent participation. There’s a disconnect between students and the University, and my job would be to bridge that gap,” Johnson said.

Her slogan, “Changing the face of Nicholls,” acts as a call for students to make Nicholls more than just a place of study.

“I want my entry to represent that more people should be involved and utilize what we do have here at Nicholls and attempt to make a difference. Win or lose, I want to see people to be excited about this election. The boost in student morale is what I want my campaign to represent,” Johnson said.

As a candidate who has gone from no club participation to multiple club participation and lived both on and off campus, she feels she can relate to Nicholls students across the spectrum and embody all students.

“A vote for me is a vote for the students. I understand all students on all levels, and I think that sets me apart as a candidate,” Johnson said.

The other candidate running for president is Tommy Thibodaux, a marketing and professional selling sophomore from Thibodaux. In high school, he was president of the National Honor Society, student council parliamentarian and served on multiple associations of student councils at the local, state and national levels. He has served as a senator for two years, as a freshman, and now, as a senator at large. He has also served as co-chair of finance, co-chair of SGA, co-chair of campus improvements and currently, as chairman of campus improvements.

“My slogan is ‘A Dependable Voice for Nicholls.’ The truth is that higher education is in trouble. I want to be the voice and experienced leader that Nicholls needs,” Thibodaux said.

Thibodaux has frequented monthly meetings with the Louisiana Council of Student Body Presidents, which serves as a “representative body for those students of the colleges and universities that belong to the Louisiana Board of Regents.” He believes the experience he gained from attending these meeting has set him apart as a worthy candidate.

“Going to those meetings, I think, has allowed me to see that the issue goes beyond individual universities. This isn’t just a Nicholls or an LSU problem it’s our problem. We need to come united for higher education so that it doesn’t fall on deaf ears,” Thibodaux said.

As president, he wants to act as a voice for the student body to the administration that will keep students informed about what is really going on.

“One of my big things is regarding higher education. Everyone’s saying ‘we want to fix higher education’, but what do they want to fix? No one is giving examples. I want to get solid answers that we can rely on,” Thibodaux said.

Another one of Thibodaux’s goals as president is to ensure senator knowledge, keeping them informed so that they can answer students’ questions and be involved.

“SGA is a job that I take very seriously. Having them do their job, so they can get back to me, and I can go talk to president Murphy,” Thibodaux said.
He also wants to keep traditions alive by continuing with the university’s annual events, but also wants to be open to integrating new ideas and creating new traditions for Nicholls.
He urges students to come and be an integral part in student government, and his main message to the student body is that they are not alone.

“I am a student, just like you. We will be heard as a student body, and we will have change, we will have answers. There are great things we have going for us here at Nicholls. On Mondays, it’s not just 40 people meeting to make decisions, it’s a representation of the entire student population,” Thibodaux said.

Overall, if he were elected, he hopes to leave his position as president better than he found it, knowing that he played part in helping students and his mission of helping others was accomplished.

“Serving and representing people is what I live for, and I enjoy knowing that by sacrificing an hour or two of my life, I am making someone else’s life better,” Thibodaux said.
Campaigning for the vice-presidency is Darian Graivshark, a pre-law sophomore from Mandeville. Graivshark has been a member of the senate for almost two years, and plans on extending the reach of the SGA.

“I wanted to get more involved beyond the senate, a higher position so I could delegate more and make changes and improvements, which would be better communication and getting connected with other organizations. As vice-president, I would want to act as liaison between them and the senate,” Graivshark said.

Graivshark also suggested changes to be made within the organization itself to better its operation.

“I want to get the senators more involved and get a closer relationship. In my personal experience, I felt that there has been some competition, and that has discouraged other senators. I want equal motivation for better cooperation,” Graiveshark said.

Graivshark believes her approachable nature makes her a good candidate, and hopes that it will encourage more student body participation with the SGA.

“I want students to feel like they can come to me for anything, to know that their voices will be heard. I put emphasis on the idea that someone is listening, getting things done in a timely matter, and is competent for the role in the community,” Graivshark said.

She also serves as treasurer for her sorority, which has taught her skills like dedication, time management, working well under pressure and dealing with high volumes of people. In her time as a senator, she also worked with various college departments to assist in different needs, giving her experience in networking and communication.
Her campaign slogan, “Bridging the Gap,” is all about communication.

“Communication is a big role in everything. It helps people bond and get closer, which helps get things done faster and encourages more ideas,” Graivshark said.

The next candidate, Abigail Ledet, is a mass communication and public relations junior from Bourg. She has been on the senate for four semesters and served as treasurer for her high school student council. As vice president, she hopes to continue in the footsteps of the current vice-president Mary Sauce.

“She has been doing an awesome job, and like her. I really want to support the senate, and to motivate them to work harder to get more motions out there to help the students. I just really want to help the school,” Ledet said.

If elected, Ledet wants to have an open door policy to students.

“I want to be able to get students more involved, so that they feel comfortable coming to SGA with their questions and concerns. For example, if people may have questions regarding the budget crisis, they would come to SGA to get more information about what’s going on,” Ledet said.

Another plan that would be put in place should she be elected, is senator projects, which would assist in creating new ideas.

“There are some things you would never think of yourself, but if you got together with someone you never talked to and you start talking, you could come up with new motions for the school to help students,” Ledet said.

Ledet is also passionate about promoting the Nicholls name beyond the local community and increasing student involvement outside the classroom.

“I want to promote Nicholls in other communities so that more people can attend, and to get the Nicholls spirit up. I want to get more students going to extracurricular activities and sporting events because I feel those activities don’t get enough credit,” Ledet said.

Her slogan is “For Nicholls, For a Change,” which she chose to highlight her dedication to changing Nicholls for the better.

“I want the student body to know that you can feel free to come and talk to me about anything. I am here. I am very open and personable, and will not turn any one away. I will always be there to help you with whatever you need,” Ledet said.

The final candidate for vice-president is Austin Wendt, a sophomore English major from Baton Rouge. Wendt served on the SGA senate for a year and a half, and in high school was student body president for two years. In those years, he played an integral role in reform in his high school.

He would like to further that success by bringing about reform at Nicholls, and his previous experiences are what motivated him to run in this year’s election.

“I would like to see the senators be more empowered. One of the ideas I have would be to form a strategic planning committee, which would look at things the senate does well and look at the areas where improvement is needed. This committee decides if we need to revitalize the initiatives that we set out or scrap them,” Wendt said.

Another goal would be to facilitate interaction between the SGA the student programming association.

“What I am really passionate about is being able to work with the SPA. It surprises me that two organizations that are solely there to enhance the student’s life on this campus do not collaborate at all. If elected, I want to form a joint committee comprised of members from both SGA and SPA that would tackle the serious lack of school spirit we have. Its main objective would be to set in place initiatives to increase school spirit and attempt unifying the campus as a whole,” Wendt said.

Wendt also wants to improve collaboration with the housing and residence life office, and is currently working with them to resolve the issue of hot water in dorms.

“As a resident on campus, I see some of the issues that are plaguing our housing life, and I would want student government to work with them on these issues,” Wendt said.

As vice-president, his major goal is to be available to students. Since November, he has been working on a project to get a disc golf course on campus after students approached him with the idea.

“I want to be the kind a vice-president that is easily accessible to the students. If they have ideas that they want in place, they can come to me, and we can talk and form an action plan, and try to get results,” Wendt said.

His campaign slogan is “United in Purpose,” which means he will serve as a “representative voice unifying all students together.”

“Whether black, white, gay, straight, jock, or academic, we can all find a common place to build a stronger Nicholls State,” Wendt said.