Cal Poly students will have a new “direct student liaison” next year in Kelly Griggs. The art and design senior was elected as 2009-2010 Associated Students Inc. president with the platform of being a link between the administration and the student body.
Griggs was elected president after Wednesday and Thursday’s election, with a voter turnout of over 20 percent of the student body. Due to a problem with the outside vendor who was contracted to count the votes, a numerical breakdown of the votes was not available by press time.
The results were announced at 8:50 p.m. Thursday evening before a crowd of approximately 200 students in the University Union Plaza during May Mayhem, a school-sponsored activity night.
Griggs said after the announcement that she was glad her message resonated with the student body.
“I think I really did my research and that has to do with the leadership positions I’ve held and I was able to build my platform off the issues that I feel the students really want and connect with,” she said.
“I know that I had a lot of support, great friends and a really good network of people (helping me). It was a fun process, a fun campaign and it’s just very surreal.”
Griggs also said that the campaign and election process was the greatest experience of her college career.
“I just had fun with it,” she said. “I felt like every night I would come home. my face would be tired from smiling all day. But it was such a good process; it was honestly the best educational experience that I’ve had so far at this university.”
Current ASI president Angela Kramer said after the elections results were announced that she looked forward to continuing to work with Griggs, making her transition to student body president as easy as possible.
“This is why we do elections in May,” Kramer said. “It’s a month-long transition process. Everything I’ve worked on this year, I’ve worked really hard to make sure we can transition well.”
Kramer said that she was “very proud” of Griggs, adding that she believed Griggs would be a true representative of the student body.
“Kelly is great, she has a phenomenal personality, is a great listener,” she said. “This position takes a lot of learning, a lot of growing, and I think she’s going to grow into it quite well. I really do.”