One of the greatest joys of living in America is getting to have a voice and be involved in the process of electing political officials. As student of VSU we have this same opportunity when it comes to electing our Student Government Association executive board and senators.

Following Monday’s announcement of the new 2016-17 SGA executive board and senators, we at The Spectator, would like to congratulate all of the winners. We wish you all good luck and cannot wait to see the wonderful things you do for our community over the next year.

While we are excited about all of the potential this new group will bring to VSU, seeing the election numbers was alarming. On our campus there are approximately 11,302 students, according to the Valdosta State University website. However, only 2,017 votes were cast over the two days the SGA polls were open online according to the election results sent out by current SGA President, David Burdette.

The Student Government Association is supposed to be the voice of the students in regards to communicating with the administration, faculty members, the media and so much more. How can our student body expect this group to accurately complete this daunting task when around 9,285 of the students on this campus did not vote?

As students on this campus, you have the opportunity to change what you do not like. You have the opportunity to speak up for what you want. You have the opportunity to make this campus your own. All students needed to do to make their voice heard was take five minutes out of their day to vote. In addition to voting, through the school year the doors to the SGA meetings are always open and the executive board is ready to hear your suggestions and concerns.

While we understand that SGA cannot fix every complaint every student has with our campus, communicating with these senators and executive board members is the best place to start.

At The Spectator we have spent this year working hard to improve our relationship with SGA in order to better serve the student body. If students on this campus would make this same effort, this campus could be whatever we wanted it to be.

Blazers, we hope in the future you will take time to make your voice heard and contribute to your community.

Once again, congratulations to all of SGA’s new members. We cannot wait to work with you and watch you set our campus ablaze with a newfound sense of VSU pride.