The student body voted on February 16 and 17 to elect the new SGA President and Vice President. After a close election, the results are in: Sela Clifford and Micah Douma have been reelected as President and Vice President. SGA President Clifford and Vice President Douma share their goals for the next school year.
Message to the Student Body
“Sela and I are ecstatic to be reelected for a second term,” said Douma. “We are so excited to have the opportunity to continue serving our fellow students here at SAU.”
Both Clifford and Douma are thankful for the support of the student body. “I am so thankful for all the students that voted for us,” said Douma. “Every vote mattered in this election, and it is very encouraging to know how many people believed in us and continued to support us.”
“I just want to say thank you,” said Clifford. “I am so grateful for the support and trust in my team to help make campus better.”
Clifford and Douma ran against Australia Smith and Caleb Kriesch. “Australia and Caleb were amazing people to run against,” said Clifford. “They did such an amazing job with their campaign, and I am very grateful to learn from the experiences I had with them.”
“Australia and Caleb were excellent competitors, and I’m so glad they decided to run,” said Douma. “They had some incredible ideas, and Sela and I will definitely consider looking into implementing some of those ideas as well.”
Goals for the Future
Clifford and Douma have many goals for the upcoming school year. “Our goals are to grow more servant leadership and focus on mental health,” said Clifford. “Post COVID may be weird, so we want to make sure we have an environment that is really there for the students and their well-being.”
Douma reiterated these plans. “Our goals for SGA include servant leadership, student leadership collaboration, and recovery-assist,” said Douma.
The duo’s idea of servant leadership comes straight from the Bible. “Matthew 20:26 speaks about servant leadership and how important it is for leaders to be servants,” said Douma. “While this is a concept that many people know about and understand, it’s something that we want to continue to push for in our community.”
Student leadership collaboration is equally important to the pair. “We also continue to believe in collaboration among student leaders,” said Douma. “We hope for many different areas of campus to partner on events.”
Plans to Accomplish These Goals
Clifford and Douma have specific plans to help them accomplish these goals. “We want to have more events that focus on mental health, as well as continuing to grow our goal of collaboration this year,” said Clifford. “We also want to have a lot more student involvement so we can really get them the environment they want.”
They believe accomplishing goals boils down to leading by example. “We plan to accomplish these goals by leading as an example and by creating more awareness about servant leadership,” said Douma.
“The same applies to the collaboration aspect of our goals as well,” said Douma. “SGA will continue to collaborate with other student leaders, and hopefully, this will inspire more partnerships to occur.”
The duo also plans to host events focusing on the mind, soul, and how it’s mentally fatiguing living during a pandemic. “We understand that COVID fatigue is hitting some people really hard these days,” said Douma. “Sela and I hope that some of these events that we push for as we continue our presidency will help alleviate some of the tiredness people are experiencing and cultivate an opportunity for some relaxation.”
Hope for the Student Body
Clifford and Douma have a lot of hope for the student body in the coming school year. “We want to create an atmosphere that pushes students to want better things for themselves and the people around them,” said Clifford. “We want to push our students to do this through positivity and encouragement.”
“We want to create a bopping, God-honoring campus,” said Douma. “A campus with people who love each other and want to bless each other.”
The duo understands that COVID-19 has affected the atmosphere on campus. “This year has included a lot of rules and a lot of social distancing,” said Douma. “We are hoping by next year, most of these restrictions will be gone, and we can move back into the awesome close community that Spring Arbor usually is.”
Douma said that the duo hopes to inspire students to build on their faith and honor God in everything they do.
Servant Leadership in Action
Clifford and Douma emphasized their desire for servant leadership, and they want the student body to take advantage of that. “We are here for you, and we want to hear from you,” said Clifford. “We are here at your disposal, so let us know how we can continue to serve you in ways we haven’t yet — we want to get better for you guys and create a safe space.”
Douma said he is excited to serve the student body for another term, and they want to fight for the changes the student body wants for the campus. “Please feel free to visit Sela and I at our office on the lower level of the Student Development Center any time,” said Douma. “We would love to chat.”
“Thank you all again for electing Sela and me for a second term,” said Douma. “We look forward to continuing to serve God and serve the students.”
By: Merry Castle
