A finance major with minors in economics and accounting, junior Welsford Scott Bishopric was recently elected to be Elon University’s next Student Government Association executive president. He currently serves as SGA executive treasurer, a position he will maintain until April 1, when elected members of the Senate and Executive Branch assume their new roles.
Q: When will you be sworn in?
A: Transition happens April 1, and that’s Easter Monday so it will be the first Thursday after that. Essentially, every year we have a dinner recognizing the end of the last term, so our last SGA meeting will be the last meeting before spring break. After that, the next meeting will be the beginning of my presidency and the new Senate year. There is a pretty comprehensive transition process, but it’s never been formalized. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what the job entails as far as day-to-day duties.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your SGA experience.
A: SGA has been one of the most important things to me at this school. Ever since freshman year, I have always been very close to the executive president, so I have had a great deal of opportunity to learn about what the job entails.
Q: What are the first items on your new “to-do” list?
A: Organizations don’t feel they are represented. They should be going to the programming representative on the organizational council; they need to connect that face with SGA. It’s a very simple way to make SGA more accessible. I don’t think SGA has a transparency problem. SGA is incredibly transparent, but we’re not accessible. This is the first step: Bring the 14 people on organizational council and making them vessels to the students they represent. It is really something I am hoping to wrap up. Now that I have an incredible executive board and a great organizational council liaison, I think this is the year we are really going to be able to pull the trigger and make a lot of these changes become a reality.
Q: What are you looking forward to the most?
A: On a professional level, I am finally excited to have the tools at my disposal to execute these plans I have had for a long time. On a personal level, I am just so thrilled and excited to have the honor of representing Elon.