With the Student Government Association’s elections Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, the executive candidates will be gearing up for hard campaigning over the next few days.
Both presidential and vice-presidential candidates are running on combined tickets, and both shape up well.
Tiffany Porter and Jennifer Berry are running for SGA president, while David Lane and Aaron Caton are seeking the vice presidency.
A political science major, Caton has been the SGA secretary of appropriations since January of this year.
He is an active member of Campus Crusade for Christ, where he has helped organize retreats and coordinate outreach programs.
He also volunteers with the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Program, which is open to all high school sophomores.
Caton has attended this conference in the past, and presently sits on the state committee for it.
He has also served as a representative for the McCord Hall Residence Hall Council. They helped to charter the statewide Aspire Program, and he has interned as minister of music at his church. Every summer he also volunteers as a counselor for youth music.
In SGA, his responsibilities as secretary include the processing of all 606 requests, assisting the 606 Committee when reviewing applicants and representing the president on all matters relating to appropriations.
“I have enjoyed serving the student body through SGA and look forward to continuing to be a leader and listening to the needs of my peers,” Caton said. “I feel the best leaders are also strong followers.”
Jennifer Berry has served in the SGA for several years.
Her first role was as a senator, and she currently serves as vice president. Her responsibilities in the position of vice president have included chairing the Senate, appointing senators to committees, helping in the legislative process of the Senate and representing the SGA to the administration.
Berry is also an executive member of ETSU Silent Bucs, which is an organization that services the deaf and hard of hearing by making students aware of their plight.
She has been a Preview and Orientation Leader and has also served as a member of the Race Relations Committee; Parking, Traffic, and Safety Committee.
Berry shows American Quarter horses, holds a leadership position at The Well Ministries, and she is also a business major.
“I am very excited about working with the students. I am willing to do everything I can to be an effective leader as well as a mediator to the faculty and staff from the students,” she said. “I have learned a great deal as vice president and I feel my experience will enable me to fulfill the [position of the] presidency.”
Tiffany Porter is presently a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. She has served in the SGA for two years, and is currently chair of the Selections Committee.
Her responsibilities as chair include the interviewing of applicants for senatorial positions, presenting applicants before the Senate and making suggestions and recommendations concerning the applicants.
She also serves on the University Race Relations Committee.
Porter created Riding for a Reason, which is an annual charity horse show which has raised, to date, over $30,000 for children with disabilities.
The program has won several awards from Student Life and Leadership.
She also has served over 350 hours of community service this past school year alone, in such things as Volunteer Kingsport, Habitat for Humanity, Girls Inc., the Boys and Girls Club and Christmas in a Shoe Box.
She went to the Intercollegiate State Legislature last year, where she served as a House member.
Porter has also served as president of the Student Service Board at the Kingsport branch of ETSU and president of the Student Advocacy Commit-tee at Kingsport.
“As president, my goal is to try and best represent all of ETSU by promoting student awareness, helping to bridge the gap between the students and faculty, and promoting multicultural awareness and tolerance,” she said.
David Lane is currently an SGA senator, and has served in the SGA for three years.
He has sponsored numerous pieces of legislation, including resolutions to establish the Veteran Affairs Committee and to have Memorial Day recognized as a university holiday.
He has chaired the Parking, Traffic and Safety Committee, the Suggestions and Grievances Committee, and presently serves as chair of the Senate Review Committee and as the Senate Parliamentarian.
Lane has also held executive offices in the Student Advocacy Committee and the Student Service Board at the Kingsport branch of ETSU.
He helped charter the Golden Key Honor Society and presently serves as president of the Public Management Association of Graduate Students; sits on the University Race Relations Committee; held the secretary’s post for the university Commit-tee on Parking, Traffic, and Safety; served on the Graduate Council; the General Educa-tional Advisory Committee; is an active member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity; and served in Society of Human Resource Management as vice president.
Lane also holds a bachelor’s degree from ETSU in human resource management, and is presently working on his master’s degree in public management.
“My goal as vice president is to support the president’s initiatives, and to perfect the day-to-day operations of the student Senate, which would include a reworking of the 606 presentation process, promote greater awareness among students of the avenue of organized student response,” he said.
The election polls will be open on Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Students can vote by using the ETSU web site at www.etsu.edu. For questions or more information about the candidates or the SGA elections, contact Advisor Dr. Sally Lee at 439-4210.

Author