Newly elected SGA leadership discuss visions for future

By LIZZIE STONE & ELEANOR SHAW The Breeze

Students elected four new leaders within the Student Government Association (SGA) on Tuesday: President Nate Hazen, Vice President Faith Forman, Executive Treasurer Matt Haynicz and Student Representative to the Board of Visitors Abigail Cannella. Election results were announced Wednesday evening, with SGA reporting a total of 1,894 students voted on Tuesday — a 47% increase from last year.

Nate Hazen defeated Alexis Alston and Brielle Lacroix. Hazen won with 47.9% of 1,763 votes cast for the position, while Alston earned 25% and Lacroix earned 24.8%. Thirtyseven students voted for write-in candidates.

Hazen, a junior, ran for the position last year but lost to current student body president Shawdee Bakhtiari — an outcome Hazen said he’s now grateful for.

“I’m thankful every day because I’ve learned so many awesome lessons last year without having the title of president,” Hazen said. “She is a terrific president and terrific role model.”

Hazen said his experience as class president and academic senator gave him a strong understanding of the SGA, making him a “swiss army knife” of student government.

“I wasn’t tied down to a single role of responsibility,” Hazen said. “I could float around and see other people.”

Serving the JMU community as a present and active member is something Hazen said he’s looking forward to. He said he hopes to use the presidency as “a place of counsel and advice” as SGA works to make campus a better place.

As president, Hazen said he plans on giving JMU “everything I’ve got” during his final year as a student.

“There’ll be highs and lows on this journey,” Hazen said. “I want to be ready and prepared to help the student body through it all.”

Faith Forman ran unopposed for student body vice president. A total of 1,561 students voted in the race, with 96% voting for Forman and the remaining 61 students voting for write-in candidates.

Throughout her campaign, Forman said she hoped to “modernize traditions” of JMU’s past, a goal she said will be fulfilled during her time as vice president.

“I really think the traditions at JMU are super important, and because of [COVID19] they haven’t been as prominent,” Forman said. “I’m really hoping the student body can get more involved with traditional events at JMU.”

One of these events referenced by Forman is the Ring Premiere, an SGA-sponsored event where current sophomores can attend the unveiling of their class ring.

“JMU’s actually one of only [a few] schools that gets to design a new ring every year,” Forman said. “Over 1,000 people used to come stop by … Obviously students enjoy these events and these super cool things that are JMU-specific.” see SGA ELECTIONS, page 4