Hello Colby College Community,

We are Benjamin Sebastian Amy and Lester Allen Batiste, and we want to be your 2012 Student Government Association (SGA) co-presidents. As student-elected leaders, we will strive to represent all opinions present in our community. We believe that through friendship, moral rectitude and innovation, we can shape Colby into a wintry utopia that serves you, the students, and not the other way around. In order to reach a state of homeostasis, we believe that certain programs and initiatives should be established. What we bring to the table is ingenuity. With our proposed program, FasTrack, we aim to improve the number of Colby graduates by pairing incoming first-years with career advisors who will help the students attain tangible career options at the beginning of the school year. Whether it is moving on to graduate school or finding that great first job, we want to make sure Colby students leave this fine institution with a definite direction in life.

We also want to spark creative change and work toward total cooperation between all members of the Colby community: students, professors, Waterville residents, alumni…everybody. We believe that if you really want to induce change in any system, it starts with building a strong foundation. We would change Colby’s infrastructure by creating a group called the Social Policy Committee (SPC), committed to exploring ways of making constructive improvements to Colby’s dynamic social environment. We want individuals to be excited and proud to be students here. Through the use of venues and spaces here at Colby, we would showcase student talent whether it is on the stage, in the classroom or in the community. We, the people, are the building blocks that make Colby the place it is, we need to learn how to co-exist in this bubble safely and together. Through regularly scheduled community engaging events, we plan to facilitate change in the demeanor of Colby students from melancholy to joy like that of a hefty little boy fixated on the incredible double chocolate cake on his 10th birthday. With the bicentennial anniversary of Colby College coming just around the corner, why not aim for a happier campus? We believe that our ingenuity and a little dose of “hoodrat-ism” will bring an enthusiastic and exciting transformation to college life.

Lastly, we would like to improve the Colby-Waterville connection. With the election of Karen Heck as the new Mayor of Waterville, we feel that there is no better time to reestablish a strong connection to the city that has been forgotten. The president of SGA represents and embodies the ideals of Colby College; if elected we will work with leading members of the Waterville community in order to harbor a healthy relationship. Coordinating our efforts, we could showcase that same Colby talent to the local community by appearing at schools, charity events, etc. We would keep the students connected through live Twitter updates, making the people aware of what’s going on in the world outside. We envision a Waterville, Maine where Colby College and the City of Waterville walk hand in hand, not divided by superficial differences. We are simply two guys with the passion and drive to do better. We don’t have all the answers, but we want to be vehicles for your ideas, putting the “cool” back into “school.”

Peace and a bottle of hair grease, Ben and Lester