By Doug Carroll
GCU News Bureau
They probably won’t be seen much wearing sport coats and ties, as they were on campaign signs up and down the Promenade. That’s not their style.
But they will be seen — all the time — if they’re true to their campaign pledge of building community on a growing campus.
As the next president and vice president of ASGCU, sophomore Nick Ely and junior Trent Bruns say it’s not about them. Rather, it’s about everyone else.
“We need to keep a pulse on what the students are thinking and feeling,” said Ely, a double major in history and Christian studies, after election results were announced late Wednesday afternoon, making him GCU’s student-body president for 2012-13. "We’ll do that through building relationships.”
A large crowd of students gathered outside Prescott Hall for pizza and the announcement of the winners of this week’s election, which lived up to expectations that it would be closely contested among three sets of candidates.
Out of 546 votes cast in three days, Ely and Bruns received 39.5 percent. The ticket of junior Amber Christenberry and sophomore Andrew Cuckie received 30.5 percent, with juniors Mallory Freeman and James Prigge receiving 30 percent.
Bruns, already highly visible as a member of the men’s volleyball team, admitted that he and Ely weren’t shy about getting their names in front of students. Their imposing, 30-foot banner made of bedsheets graced the west side of Prescott Hall for 11 days.
“I honestly think that did make a difference,” said Bruns, a communications major. “Students don’t care about the political stuff. They liked our banner and our signs.
“Our role is to be the voice of students and to be intentionally personal with them, even on the little things.”
Ely and Bruns will shadow outgoing ASGCU President Anthony Mann and Vice President Ty Kieser until the end of the school year, preparing for what’s ahead on a campus that could have close to 8,000 students in the fall.
Ely said Mann’s leadership of ASGCU was an influence on him.
“It’s one of the main reasons I ran,” he said. “I saw a servant’s heart in him. His desire wasn’t to elevate himself. He has loved and served with a full heart.”
Mann said he was impressed by the three teams of candidates and the campaigns they ran.
“Campaigning is emotional and stressful, but it’s also fun,” he said. “It’s not always the easiest thing to put yourself out there. They did a great job, and our student body had some variety to choose from.”
Though disappointed, Freeman said she didn’t expect any of those who didn’t win to become uninvolved in campus issues and events.
“I don’t think that will happen,” she said. “We’re all pretty close, and I think that’s why it was a good campaign.”
Contact Doug Carroll at 639.8011 or [email protected].
