On September 24th the Student Government Association (SGA) elections were held at Alcorn State University (ASU) and two members from the Mass Communications Department found themselves winning very prominent positions. Ayanna Samuels-Francis, a Junior from Las Vegas, Nevada became the 1st Vice President and Emmanuel Ufio, a Junior from Abuja, Nigeria became the Executive Secretary.
As the new 1st Vice President Samuels-Francis’ duties consists of being over the Student Senate which is a make up of all of the clubs and organization’s presidents on campus, and being a student liaison to University officials for food choices on campus, campus safety, and housing and student satisfaction complaints. “I wanted to run for this position because of my love for Alcorn. Alcorn has so much immense potential and I saw that but I didn’t see it being fully developed or fully shown for the student body so I thought that I could be able to do something better about it by winning this position,” she stated.
Her platform while running for the 1st Vice President position was PUSH (Problem Solving, Unity, Service and Hospitality) Alcorn forward. She stated that she plans to infuse her skills as a Mass Communications major with the 1st Vice position by communicating effectively with her constituents rather it be large groups or small one on one gatherings. After graduation Samuels-Francis plans to work in the marketing field for a few years and then attend law school.
Ufio, who was elected as Executive Secretary, duties will include, but not limited to, working closely with campus presidents, organizing Senate meetings on campus, running the SGA’s social media accounts on all platforms, and attending every meeting to take notes. His slogan while running for the position was Representation, Revitalization, and Reconstruction. Ufio stated, “I ran on this platform because I felt that there wasn’t a good representation between the student government and the student body and I felt as though I could change that.”
He says that as a member of the SGA he wants to build a better relationship with the students so that they will trust the organization with their problems and allow them to possibly handle them instead of venting their frustrations on social media. He says he’d also like to bring back Club Café on Wednesdays in the Dr. Clinton Bristow Jr. Dining Facility because of its vibrancy and its ability to unite everyone.
After graduation, Ufio plans to get into the financial services field. “As an international student this is a place where I will have more opportunities and my chances of getting a job are more secure. I also plan on becoming more involved in politics as well,” he stated.