New class officers hope to strengthen relations between Lynchburg and Liberty students

• Newly elected class presidents hope to expand upon relationship between Lynchburg and Liberty students.
• Amendment to SGA’s constitution says that class presidents will represent Liberty students to the city of Lynchburg.

The Student Government Association began a new season as class presidents and vice presidents were elected Sept. 21 with two campaigns running for the sophomore, three for junior and freshmen and senior positions running uncontested.

The new freshmen class presidents are Max Pennington and Elizabeth Axley.  Sophomores Derek Rockey and Andrew Toth won the sophomore class position with 51 percent of the vote.  Cameron Dixon and Casey Matta earned the roles of junior class president and vice president with 39 percent of the vote, and senior class winners are Nate Nickerson and Tyler Cornford.

Caleb Fitzpatrick, speaker of the house in the Student Government Association (SGA), explained the new responsibilities that this year’s class officers will adopt.

According to Fitzpatrick, SGA amended its constitution to include what he called the Community Service Commission.

Fitzpatrick explained that class officers will now represent Liberty students to the city of Lynchburg to help students establish a relationship with the people of Lynchburg beyond what they are required to do with LU Serve.

Fitzpatrick compared the relationship between Liberty and Lynchburg to an ecosystem.

“The people of Lynchburg and the students of Liberty rely on one another,” he said.

.           According to Fitzpatrick, the constitutional amendment removed the class officers from SGA legislative bodies so that they could focus on nurturing this “ecosystem.”

Freshman Class

Max Pennington and Elizabeth Axley hope to be approachable and available for the freshmen class.

Pennington spoke about his hope to help students get connected to Lynchburg and get better connected to SGA.

“Our primary goal this year is to be the best direct advocate for the students to Liberty University and to Lynchburg that we can be,” Pennington said.

Pennington said that one of his goals was to be available for freshmen to contact directly.

Sophomore Class

Derek Rockey and Andrew Toth plan to focus more on Liberty students’ relationship with Lynchburg.

Rockey gave last year’s Serve Lynchburg as an example of what he thinks Liberty’s relationship with the community should be.

“We need to have every Saturday look like Serve Lynchburg,” Rockey said.

Rockey said he and Toth brainstormed several ways to spread news about service opportunities, including their social media platforms, word of mouth and a widget on the LU Today smartphone app.

Additionally, Rockey said he and Toth want to reduce the sales and meal taxes in Lynchburg through students representing Liberty at every Lynchburg City Council meeting to make their views heard.

Junior Class

            Cameron Dixon and Casey Matta also have ideas for service in Lynchburg.

“One of my goals is to start a big brother, big sister program in the middle schools in Lynchburg,” Matta said.

He also mentioned general community service in Lynchburg, including raising awareness for Campus Serve.

Senior Class

Nate Nickerson and Tyler Cornford have specific goals for their time as senior class officers. Nickerson emphasized connecting students with needs in Lynchburg. He has been working on connecting Liberty students to a church in Lynchburg that gives out tokens that the homeless can use to purchase necessities at local businesses.

Cornford pointed out that the senior class presidents and the other class presidents are trailblazers because they will connect Liberty students to Lynchburg.

The class officer terms run until the end of the spring semester.