[dropcap]H[/dropcap]istory is replete with national well known politicians who began their stint in politics in student government. Among these are Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, who ran for student body president in high school, and lost. Whether or not, Bailey Reploge plans to become the leader of the free world, she for sure has a win under her belt as she was just elected as Seminole State’s student body president for the Altamonte campus.
“I decided to run for president because I have become so passionate about serving our college. My time here is not quite over yet. . .” Bailey Replogle said in a Facebook campaign profile, “I love the experiences I’ve had through SGA, and my mission is to have everyone involved in some way, shape or form. We are lucky enough to live in a country where we have the opportunity to go to college, and we should be making the most of it.”
Replogle is a 19-year-old public relations major that plans to work with the college after she graduates. “I like people a lot and I want to work alongside the great people here,” said Replogle.
Her mission for presidency is based on passion. She wants to ensure that every student has the best college experience possible. [pullquote]“I want everybody to grow as people and feel how I feel right now because I feel proud of myself. It’s great to find who you are and I want everyone to feel like that and I think that in doing that everything will come from it,” said Replogle. [/pullquote]
While in her former position as Altamonte Springs’ Vice President she has accomplished a lot. She completed what is called FLIGHT training (Florida College Systems Student Government Association Leadership Training), which is done by taking six classes about ethics, diversity, event planning and all the things that go along with holding a position in student government.
She has also started a recycling initiative at her campus that helps students recognize the importance of using the correct receptacle so that nothing is wasted. She hosts seminars on campus with members of her team, and in one entitled “College Hacks: What They Didn’t Tell You,” she shared the things that she didn’t know when she began her college career to help students in their journey.
She is also working to bring more night events to campus. “Usually events are on Tuesdays from 12 to 2 and the night students don’t get to come to them,” said Replogle. There was a glow in the dark event that she organized a couple of months ago as a test that was a success among the night-time students. “They were so happy,” Replogle said.
Every month, SGA has college-wide meetings. All of the presidents and vice presidents of each of the campuses get together with the president of student life and sometimes with influential people to discuss what they’ve been doing at their campuses and also what students would like to see be done.
Replogle is very student oriented and takes suggestions from students on what they would like to see happen around campus. “If students bring me an idea and I think that it’s possible, I bring it up to my team and then my team and I can talk about it. Because were all different people, we all have different perspectives, so I always bring it up to them and then we decide if we want to carry it on towards the college-wide meeting because not all of the campuses have the same ideas that we do,” said Replogle.
Stephanie Engel can be reached at Stephanie@theseminolescribe.com.
