Carly Micheal wins SMU presidency

Renee Waller and Seth Gladysz also elected next SGA president and vice president.

Isabelle Thompson, Brittany Ung, and Micah Kim • February 13, 2019

SMU president-elect Carly Micheal celebrates after receiving word that she won the Feb. 11-12 election for the 2019-2020 school year.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Zhang/THE CHIMES

On Feb. 12, at a little past 10:30 p.m., junior business major Carly Micheal’s phone rang. The voice on the other end notified her that she would become the next president of the Student Missionary Union.

At around the same time, junior political science major Renee Waller and sophomore political science major Seth Gladysz celebrated as their unopposed ticket was officially elected Student Government Association president and vice-president for the 2019-2020 school year.

With the election season at an end, Biola’s new student leaders will soon start preparing themselves to take on their new roles. Their first order of business, though, is celebration.

NEW SMU PRESIDENT

In the moments following the news of her election, Micheal showed her excitement and surprise while her supporters shouted their congratulations.

“I feel ecstatic and I’m over the moon. So excited,” Micheal said.

Micheal says she feels satisfied with the work she put in during her campaign and expressed gratitude for a strong support base.

“I felt like my campaign was really good. I felt like I had my face around campus and all my friends were posting on social media a ton and they were reaching all their friends,” Micheal said. “I thought I did a really good job of making sure I was around campus and having stickers and everything.”

As the excitement took over the room, the celebration had already begun.

“I’m going to celebrate with all my friends, maybe we’ll get some food and I’m going to sleep really well tonight,” Micheal said.

SMU RUNNER UP

SMU presidential runner-up and junior Christian ministries major Dee Jacocks expressed disappointment in a phone interview.

“It does suck, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t. But I think that it is important that I remain true to who I am and true to what I stand for,” Jacocks said.

Jacocks also thanked his supporters.

“I got a lot of people to reach out and support and vote for me, and so just thank you to them… Even though I didn’t get the role that I wanted or the role that I felt like God was calling me to, just for them to know that it means God has another plan and another path that he wants to take me down,” Jacocks said. “Just remain true to that, and that he has called me to serve next year.”

Runner-up Dee Jackocs listens for the results from current SMU President, Jeremy Lupinacci. Photo by Hannah Clark/THE CHIMES

SGA POWER DUO

The SGA president-elect Waller and SGA vice president-elect Gladysz both expressed their optimism.

“I feel like this process is so much bigger than both of us in the sense of everyone’s creative ideas and encouragement as well as everyone who supported our life,” Waller said. “I’m just excited to get started.”

Their unopposed campaign received the needed 10% of votes from the general student population to get elected.

“I think it gave us a good opportunity to still love on the community of Biola… Getting out there and sharing ideas,” Gladysz said. “It provided us the unique opportunity to show how much we care. So that was really a blessing for us.”

Waller hopes that under her watch, SGA will become more relevant to students.

“The future looks bright. I think we are excited to make it something that is service-oriented and is joining people in the lives that they’re living, pursuing their passion that God’s given them,” Waller said. “We want to make SGA very practical so people know and appreciate and feel that the SGA is relevant in their everyday lives.”

SGA vice president-elect Seth Gladysz and president-elect Renee Waller pose with friends after receiving the election results. Photo by Yehju Park/ THE CHIMES

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About the Contributors

Isabelle Thompson, Business Manager

Isabelle Thompson is a senior business marketing major who enjoys gloomy weather, reading and national parks. She is also an advocate for adventure and trying new things. Good literature has always been a source of inspiration for me. Through the years I have become influenced by authors ranging from Jane Austin, Mark Twain and Scott Fitzgerald to more modern writers including Andy Weir and Stephen Chobsky. Each story I have come across has had a role in shaping the way I see the world and who I am today. It was my love of writing and storytelling which drew me to the position of News Editor at The Chimes my sophomore year. Through that experience I learned the skills necessary to produce consistent, factual and engaging stories that informed and documented events that impacted my immediate community. It was a new kind of storytelling for me which came with the responsibility of doing justice to the very real themes and lives portrayed. Coming back to The Chimes as a senior business marketing major, I feel lucky to have the position of business manager. While I will be taking a step back from writing, I am excited to be surrounded by excellent storytellers and support the publication in a way that aligns with my goals for a career in business.

Brittany Ung, Web Editor

Brittany Ung is a senior journalism major who loves fine point pens and could easily beat you in a tangerine eating contest. [email protected] Hi! I'm a journalism major from the Bay Area, home of Google, Tom Hanks and probably the most (or at least the best) boba shops per capita in the nation. I grew up doing competitive speech and debate — I competed in my first tournament when I was just 12 years old, advocating for the privatization of the United States Postal Service. Diving into the study of public policy taught me that I love learning about people and how we react to the things we’re confronted with. Right now, I'm picking up as much as I can about how we blueprint the world we live in, through industrial design and city planning. When my brain is too full to learn anything else, I'll play card games, practice cooking or re-read my favorite children's books. I’m following in the steps of my mom (and homeschool teacher), herself a former news director and radio broadcaster. We’re almost opposites when it comes to personality, but we share a love for synonyms, Century Gothic and learning new things. I was previously the Chimes’ news editor and editor-in-chief, but I’m back as web editor to challenge myself to learn about multimedia, web design and audience engagement by working on our website and social media profiles.

Micah Kim, Managing Editor

Micah Kim is a senior journalism major who loves Radiohead, produces music, and admires people that can do a perfect backflip. Born in Pennsylvania, having South Korean blood in my pulsing veins and hacking my way through family missions in China, life had been full of complex colors that I could not name. Finding ways to express my way out of the constant stress I was in was always full of music until I found writing as my new set of crayons. Fortunately, I had one of the most amazing opportunities to explore my writing at The Chimes for about two years going from News Staff Writer to News Editor. Now as Managing Editor, I get to be involved with a more wide variety of journalistic skill sets like photography and design. I hope as an international multimedia journalist, I’ll be able to lead and guide our newspaper to become more diversely cultured and opinionated. Other than writing, I constantly put effort into tasting distinct music. Yet, my all time favorite band is and will be Radiohead. If you guys don’t enjoy Radiohead, too bad. You’re missing out.