Computer information systems junior Stephen Bender won the Student Government Association presidential election with 659 votes. Finance and economics sophomore Pedro Saltini received 589 votes.
The election results, announced at the Feb. 27 SGA meeting, follow an initial tie between the two candidates.
Including one interim president, Bender is the sixth student to serve as SGA president since 2022.
Following is a message written by Bender following his election victory:
I’d like to start by saying thank you to everyone for the incredible support that propelled this campaign forward. Thank you to all my friends for putting in more work than I ever could have asked for, you all inspired me to keep going. Thank you to God for leading me throughout this unfamiliar and tumultuous experience, I could not have done it without His guidance. Thank you to the Student Government Cabinet and Advisors, your planning was invaluable. Finally, thank you to everyone who voted and was excited to get involved, seeing so much interest in Student Government was incredible. I truly cannot take even half of the credit for this accomplishment.
Before I decided to run for Student Government President, I had an amazing feeling about this year. I knew that big things were coming, but I did not know what those things would be. Becoming president has only heightened this feeling and made me look forward to the positive changes that are yet to come. Even though the path forward is not completely clear, I know that together we can take Ferris to new places, continuously improving ourselves and our community as we go.
When I came to Ferris two years ago, I had little leadership experience. I had never led an organization before or even been a part of a group of leaders who wanted to see the world improve. Witnessing others on campus lead with passion has transformed me in such a short period of time. Providing these experiences to others and inspiring them to keep moving forward is my main goal as president. I want Student Government to be the gateway for creating strong leadership that will positively impact the world.
Once again, thank you to everyone who supported this campaign. I am incredibly excited to see where we take this organization and I look forward to working with all the amazing leaders on campus. Their ideas and visions for our future are what give me inspiration and hope for our future. Together, let’s make this year one that we can be proud of.