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| Close relationship to help make Johnson,
Linville’s year strong |
Carrie Baker
Business Affairs Beat |
Jacque Lenz | The Appalachian (l-r) SGA presidential and vice
presidential candidates Rachel A. Johnson and Lauren N. Linville
said musical interests helped spark their close relationship,
which led to their decision to campaign for SGA top positions.
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For senior Student Government
Association presidential candidate Rachel A. Johnson, a good day
is filled with plenty of work and ends at Wendy’s.
“There is nothing I love more than running
the drive-through window [at Wendy’s]. You get to talk directly
to people, get to make sure people are smiling when they leave.
It’s really cheesy and people think I’m a real dork for
it, but I absolutely love it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she works 30 to 40 hours a week
at the fast food restaurant along with handling her class load and
involvement in SGA.
“Work makes me tick. I really am a kind
of workaholic. To me that constant work is beneficial,” Johnson
said. |
The presidential hopeful
wishes to apply her work ethic next year if elected and rub some
of her enthusiasm off onto the SGA senate and student body.
“I want to motivate people,” Johnson said.
Johnson attributes her energy and work habits to the most influential
person in her life, her mother.
“It really gave me hope because she was working nonstop, and
she always made time for others. That really always impressed me,”
Johnson said.
Johnson’s running mate, junior Lauren N. Linville hopes to
add a pair of open ears and some extra energy to their ticket.
“Emotions are contagious and I think you need to keep up being
enthusiastic and striving forward to do things,” Linville said.
Linville said she feels an open mind and ears are important to the
SGA vice-president position.
“I think it’s really important to completely understand
each other. There are so many misunderstandings between people when
they don’t take in everything people have to say,” Linville
said.
Linville also said she looks to bring motivation to students at
Appalachian State University.
“I’m passionate about people doing the right thing and
making sure that when they’re here they use every minute of
their time to do something special. Whether it is music or politics
or something to make a difference, to go out and just do everything
they can and make everything worth while,” Linville said.
Johnson and Linville met through their activities in SGA and bonded
at a cabinet retreat last summer where they shared interest in playing
the flute and piccolo.
“Lauren and I, when we first met at the cabinet retreat, just
hit it off immediately. We had so much in common with the music
and ideas. We’re really close,” Johnson said.
Linville said similar ideas for the SGA senate, and corresponding
personalities led to their inspiration to run for SGA president
and vice president.
“I think it works well with our personalities. Rachel is really
bold, and she’ll speak out. And I figure out all the minor
details,” Linville said.
Johnson and Linville said they are not worried about the strain
of campaigning affecting their friendship. Instead, Johnson said
she wants to focus their energies into a clean campaign.
“I don’t want any hate going around; that’s like
the complete opposite of what I’m here for,” Johnson said.
Johnson said she wants the “good relationship” she and
Linville are working to keep with opponents Patrick G. Cash and
H. Dustin Bayard to keep the emphasis on student needs.
“I saw how dirty it was last year in the campaign and it really
upset me to see how much political mudslinging was going on and
how much the students were being forgotten in the campaigning and
how much they were focusing on each other. That really upset me,”
Johnson said.
But Johnson is optimistic that her past leadership roles as a foreign
exchange student in high school and with the Appalachian Popular
Programming Society (A.P.P.S.) and SGA in college have prepared
her for the challenges ahead.
Johnson lived in Germany in 1997 as a Congress Budestag Youth Exchange
Scholarship recipient. Johnson said this experience was her “biggest
leadership role” yet.
“To learn another language and to live in another culture for
an entire year is very, very hard. When you look at another culture
it broadens your horizons, and you see the differences, and you
see the changes you want to make,” Johnson said.
At Appalachian State, Johnson is studying psychology, German studies
and marketing. She has been involved with A.P.P.S. Special Events
and SGA senate, election committee and cabinet.
Johnson said her role as Director of Academic Affairs on the SGA
cabinet has aided in preparation for a job as student body president.
“Because we are within the cabinet we can see all the good
that happens as well anything that we feel might have gone wrong.
We see it from an insider’s point of view,” Johnson said.
Linville holds a position on the SGA cabinet as the Director of
Internal Affairs.
“I’ve gone around to help all of the other committees.
So I’ve done a little part in each committee this semester.
I’ve gotten to know what everything does,” Linville said.
Linville gives her parents credit for showing her the importance
of involvement.
“My parents have really influenced me. Ever since I was little
they’ve wanted me to get involved and told me I can achieve
anything if I want to,” Linville said.
Linville began her active participation at Appalachian State through
the music program where she started out as a music major. Linville
took her music leadership roles from high school where she was the
first junior female drum major.
Linville, now a political science major, became active in the Treble
Choir, Appalachian’s chapter of the Chi Omega sorority and
the SGA cabinet.
Both Johnson and Linville said they see their past activities as
experience they can use to achieve what they consider to be the
most integral part of student body leaders: reaching out and creating
student involvement.
“We need to continue and go out to the students and get more
student input because right now just with their representatives
they feel like the representatives are doing the work for them,
and students need to get involved too,” Johnson said.
With students in mind, Linville and Johnson said they are ready
for the roles of president and vice president.
“Students should vote for us because we have the drive to get
students motivated, to get students out there and active and to
get students’ voice heard,” Johnson said. |
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