Nely takes senate

Sophomores Ryan Nely and Michael Polwort are the newly elected president and vice president of the student association.  

Nely and Polwort received 52.7 percent of the vote (764 votes), and junior Isaac Robinson and senior Kyle Olmstead received 47.3 percent (686 votes). Voting began Monday and ended at 6 p.m.  Wednesday. A total of 1,621 students cast their votes.

"I feel incredibly grateful," Nely said. "I am so excited to go to work immediately. We have some great ideas and are ready to go."

Outgoing President Robinson said the students sent their message by voting.

Senators have shared an interest in Robinson getting back on Student Senate as a Senate, but Robinson is not certain what he will do in the future, he said.

"Defeat is always sad," Olmstead said. "I know that Michael and Ryan are good candidates and will do a great job leading the senate."

Junior Brett Cline, an elected senior senator, said his role will be to ease the transition and to ensure Nely and Polwort stay true to their campaign promises and the Senate constitution.

Junior Daniel Hague, senate speaker of the house, said he thinks the most important element for senate to focus on is getting in touch with students, as this was a concern during the past year.

"Our main priorities are to make sure that the Eco-Olympics are very strong," Nely said. "We will immediately refund the Bike Co-op with the Senate budget and get to work with a committee to fix the bricks on the mall and all the busted brick pathways."