Senior class officers, RHA president elected for 2015-16

After weeks of campaigning, the work is just beginning for newly elected senior class officers Brent McKnight and Ying Lin and re-elected Residence Hall Association president Taylor Bates.

Bates won with 52 percent of the vote in his re-election, while McKnight and Lin won with 51.2 percent of the vote.

Bates said his work will begin tomorrow when he meets the other candidates to talk about their roles next year and gets the application up for the executive board.

But Wednesday the incumbent president was just excited.

“Honestly, I’m at a complete and total loss for words,” Bates said.

As an incumbent, Bates said many of the conversations he had with voters were about the work he had already done. He said many components of his campaign, such as the ice machines in dorms, were already in progress.

He does have new things planned for residence halls. He wants to implement a live enhancement inventory system that will allow residents to see items available for checkout on a computer. He said he hopes to roll this out over the summer, but it will be ready by fall semester at the latest.

Bates complimented his opponent, Grayson Berger, but said it was difficult to be on opposite ends of the ballot with someone he was close to.

“We’ve always been great friends,” he said. “We came into RHA together.”

Berger expressed an interest in working with Bates next year.

“I would be more than willing to help him out,” he said.

Berger said his primary interest was fulfilling a public service and advocacy role, so he said he is still figuring out what he will do next year.

McKnight said he and Lin, who could not be reached for comment, were also excited to jump into their new roles.

“For us it’s about starting to plan things, like Senior Day and Joy Prom, and fulfilling those promises that we put in our platform and fulfilling our goal of making senior year our biggest year yet,” McKnight said.

He said he was most excited about implementing Senior Day, which will be a day in the fall semester for senior games and activities, and Joy Prom, which is a prom put on for people with special needs.

“Both have the potential to bring our class together into a community,” he said. “And both have the potential to be really special moments in our senior year.”

Cat Leipold and Max Williams, the opponents of McKnight and Lin, congratulated their opponents and said they were happy with the effort of their campaign.

“I’m looking forward to what Brent and Ying bring to the table,” Leipold said.

The pair still hopes to see parts of their platform come to life.

“I think they’re important tools that can help create a positive senior experience,” Leipold said.

Williams said he plans to continue his work with the Boys and Girls Club, while Leipold wants to work with their idea of a senior story day, which would be an event where different members of the senior class could share their stories.

“We’d love to work with you,” McKnight said to Leipold and Williams.

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