By Ashlee Larrison
GCU News Bureau
It has been two months since Samuel Yonan and Bret Malkin won the election that chose the 2019-20 president and executive vice president of the Associated Students of Grand Canyon University (ASGCU), but it didn't feel real to them until Friday.
Students and faculty alike piled into the Colangelo College of Business lobby to witness the ASGCU presidential inauguration and ring in a new cabinet.
“It’s very humbling,” Yonan said. “I don’t think it’s really set in with me yet until this moment, but we are so excited for next year.”
Yonan and his team were sworn by 2018-19 president Noah Wolfe, who praised the new student body leaders.
“They are ready,” Wolfe said to the crowd as he proceeded with the inauguration, first swearing in the new members of the senate, then Malkin and Yonan.
“Ultimately the success of this association rests in your hands,” Wolfe said to his successor.
The crowds erupted into cheers as Yonan and Malkin closed out the ceremony with speeches and a closing prayer.
“I’m excited for what they’re going to do. They’re going to do a great job,” Wolfe said. “We’ve had a great run and got a lot of stuff done, so I feel confident to hand the baton off to some wonderful people. I’m looking forward to what’s in the future.”
Now that his time as president has ended, Wolfe can look back at his accomplishments over the past year.
When asked about his most rewarding moment of his presidency, he said that he was “incredibly proud” to have been a part of his team’s "It’s on us" campaign, which raised $14,000 for sex-trafficking victims to help them get an education.
Now he can focus on graduating and taking the next big step for his life. He will remain with GCU as an employee in the development department and will help with donations and fundraising.
“I’m really excited to see what the future holds with that,” he said.
As for the new presidential cabinet, they have some big things in store.
“One of the biggest plans we want implement next year is creating a house of representatives,” Malkin said. “This would be one delegate from each club meeting together once a month or twice a month to be able to communicate better between the executives and the student body.”
Said Yonan, “Another one is we do want to see what it would look like to start a rewards program in the schools on campus and start bringing reusable bags in stores like The Grid and other stores on campus, bags that would be specifically marketed for GCU to reduce the plastic use on campus.”
2019-20 ASGCU CABINET MEMBERS
Senate: Jingwen Zhang, Graham Parker, Maxwell Webb, Dylan Mahoney, Luke Phelps, Andrew Littman, Hanwen Hu, Consuelo Velazquez, Pierce Thrashner
Administrative Vice President: Rachel Patterson
Executive Vice President: Bret Malkin
President: Samuel Yonan
Contact Ashlee Larrison at (602) 639-8488 or [email protected]
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