This year, there was a vacancy for the position of Executive Director of Publicity. This position’s
responsibilities on the council include advertising all school events and serving as a resource for
class councils or other SGA organizations. The process to fill this position occurred differently than it has
in the past.

In article 4, section 4 of the student body constitution, it describes if “there is a vacancy during
the term of an executive council member, the remaining members of the SGA shall nominate
two candidates for that position. Upon approval, the candidates shall be presented to the
student body for the election ballot.” However, this year was a little different.

“Executive SGA wanted more student body input,” said student body president Noah Cheney in
regards to selecting a new Director of Publicity. “That is why we opened it up for the whole
school to apply and run for the position.” After receiving ten applications, the council met to
narrow the selection down to two candidates. Some of the criteria the council used were “student involvement, experience, how well they would fit the position of publicity with its job requirements/duties, and team chemistry with the current council,” said Cheney.

After much consideration, the council narrowed the applicants down to Brendan Bollinger and
Hailee Owen. These two candidates were able to campaign before the election went to a school-wide
vote. The vote decided that Owen would fill the role of Director of Publicity.

Hailee Owen is currently a senior majoring in special education. She has played on the
volleyball team and worked at both Campus Kinderhaus and Hebrews Café. She believes that these
things have helped her to build more relationships with students and hopes to do the same as
she serves on student government.

“Publicity is not just about posting flyers and posting on Instagram but also having relationships
with people here at school,” said Owen after she won the election. “The goal is to get more people
involved by letting them know they are wanted at events.”

Owen did not run for the publicity position last year for fear of one aspect of the process. This one piece of the election was avoided this year because of the special election.

“The one overarching thing was the chapel speech […], it’s also nerve-wracking to put
yourself out there.” Typically, each candidate would perform a speech in chapel, to sum up why
they are running and let the students know their plans for the term.

Owen is very excited to be serving on SGA; she said one of her main goals is to make sure
everyone knows what’s going on ahead of time. She has already started a bulletin board in the
student center that shows the events for the upcoming week. She hopes the board will help
students understand what’s happening in an appropriate and timely manner.

“I’m excited to have Hailee join the team,” said Cheney after Owen’s appointment on September
25th. “I think she is a good fit with the group dynamic as well as a very qualified candidate to do
the job requirements and duties for the Director of Publicity.”