Open Letter to the Student Body:
My name is Ezra Fritz, and I am running for Vice President of the Student Government Association 2015-2016. I am a junior Mechanical Engineering major from Kingston Springs, Tennessee.
Having had the privilege of serving on SGA during these past two years, and having had the trust placed in me by the SGA executives to serve as Communications Committee Chair this past academic year; I believe I have both the leadership experience and the drive to make a good Vice President, and to bring strong and competent leadership to SGA. This will ensure that we get projects accomplished that you, the students, raise your voice about and care about deeply. One potential problem that I noticed as Communications Chair and have worked to lessen, was that there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect between SGA and the student body; and I would be honored if I could continue my work of helping to bridge that gap, as the next Vice President.
One example of the many small projects my Communications Committee undertook this year to aid in creating good communication was to create a place online where you can go and see a profile picture, some information and a contact email for every member of SGA. We created the “Meet-Your-SGA” tab on our SGA webpage so that you can get directly into contact with any one of your representatives, as well as the SGA executives if you have a question, comment or concern. I also helped to organize the information tables as well as our survey, both of which have given many invaluable insights into what YOU, the students, want and need. Suggestions from the suggestion box and the survey are still on the table, and may have to be addressed this coming academic year, of which I would love to be a part. Besides these projects, I have been involved with numerous other projects that SGA has undertaken, some of which are still in the works.
As a leader, I have experience besides that in SGA, having acted as supervisor in two different jobs. The key point here is that we have had some excellent SGA leadership this past year and in our history, and I would like that tradition of excellence to continue. As one of the Committee Chairs, I was involved with a fair amount of what went on in SGA, and because of that I have knowledge and a handle on what needs to happen in order to keep things running smoothly. There are numerous responsibilities and decisions that we, as leaders, need to take on and make in order to keep things running smoothly and to push projects forward. I assure you that if elected Vice President, I will continue to make decisions in the best interest of Lipscomb and this student body.
As a sophomore, I received excellent training in time management as I worked upwards of 35 hours a week, while taking 18 credit hours during the fall semester. While I will concede that this wasn’t the smartest decision I have ever made, I will also say that it taught me many things about how to prioritize and what important items really require my focus. This is important as an executive on SGA because you have to balance academics with your Student Government duties; something that I have been practicing already as a Committee Chair on SGA. Because of my management and leadership experiences, I have the ability to juggle many responsibilities well, fulfilling duties efficiently and getting jobs done.
All things considered, I know that if you elect me as your next SGA VP, you will find that I am eager to serve the student body, while still possessing the wherewithal to actually deliver on my word. One item I will continue to push and improve upon is communication between the student body and SGA. I have been actively working on this as Communications Committee Chair on SGA this past year, and would love to continue that work as Vice President. With improved communication, SGA will have a better understanding of the changing needs of the student body, and thus will be able to address the current issues at the outset, instead of waiting to “react” to a problem.
I would ask for your vote as we go to the polls on April 7 while pondering one last thing. Some candidates, and the ideals and leadership skills needed to guide a successful administration are like parallel lines. They may go on forever, but they’ll never meet. I’ll let you think on that one, but I assure you, I am NOT such a one!
In closing, I would like to thank you for the time you took to read this lengthy statement. I believe this shows that you care enough about this university, YOUR university — that you took the time to become well informed about the candidate(s) that you will vote for. I would also like to thank Lumination Network for making this letter to you possible. I am confident that your vote in me as the next SGA Vice President will not be misplaced, and I encourage you to encourage everyone you know, to get out and vote!