Rachel Sullivan is the new Administrative Assistant of the Executive Student Government Association (SGA) as of Tuesday, March 27.

Due to unexpected circumstances, sophomore Rachel Sullivan replaced Libby Nyquist as the new Administrative Assistant of Executive SGA earlier than expected. After Nyquist’s monthly Accountability Review Board requirements and SGA governing document standards were not met in a few specific instances, she was let go. 

Kyera Bryant, President of Executive SGA, explained that there were two options for how to handle the situation. “Each member of the Executive SGA could have taken a portion of the work that the position of the Administrative Assistant includes, or we let Rachel [Sullivan] step in early and start to train her now.” Sullivan, Administrative Assistant-elect for the 2018-19 school year, officially took over the position. After Bryant talked to her on Monday, March 26, Keri Lewis finalized the arrangement with Sullivan on Tuesday, March 27. Sullivan is looking forward to her new position. She says, “I did not see it coming and was surprised, but I was thankful that they decided to let me step in early.”

According to Nicholas Burt, ARB Chair, each month, Executive SGA members are required to submit documents, such as a “Continuity Checklist,” a list of goals accomplished each month, a list of goals for the upcoming month — including a description of the plan to accomplish them, a monthly self-assessment, and more. Additionally, the administrative assistant needs to turn in club constitutions, counterpart meeting minutes, Executive SGA meeting minutes, Student Senate meeting minutes, a record of all signed office hour time sheets, and a record of any club updates. During this past year, not all of these responsibilities were consistently fulfilled. For the future, Bryant ensures the student body that “as a person in leadership, I will do a better job at making sure that my colleagues are meeting expectations.”

Bryant thinks Sullivan is the right person for this job. “Her involvement in the student government gives her experience and exposure. She has passion and enthusiasm and is on board to serve and help with everything,” Bryant explains. Sullivan is already engaged in the ENC community as Student Event Director for the Sophomore Class Council.

Since Sullivan stepped in as the new administrative assistant, she has already helped at ENC’s Red Carpet Expo (supported by Kyera Bryant and Aaron Hebert). On April 2, she took notes during the Student Senate meeting. In conjunction with Nick Burt, Monica Ly, Justin Reed, and other members of the current Executive SGA, she participated in consolidating those notes into six questions for the same week’s town hall meeting regarding the status of the merger with Trevecca. The rest of this semester, Sullivan is going to work with Keri Lewis and the Executive SGA team to receive training for her position. She states, “I think I am very organized and committed to the student government. I believe I will get all my work done.”

Disclaimer: Adele Duval and Rebekah Hay were not involved in the writing or editing of this article.