For months, Olivia Schultz-Falandes, junior political science and history major, and Tyler McCoy, junior history major, campaigned for Student Senate president for the 2018-19 school year using flyers, social media and a variety of other election tactics. After the university-wide vote was held, Student Senate announced March 29 that McCoy had won the position of Student Senate president.

According to McCoy, he had decided to run because he believed in the skills, knowledge and experience he has accumulated over during his time at Waynesburg University.

“I decided to run for president because I felt I had the experience to successfully carry out the duties of the position and because I have ideas I would like to see
implemented,” said McCoy.

McCoy has been a senator for the past three years and executive vice-president for one year. According to McCoy, his political experience in coordination with his ability to understand issues from a student’s perspective have prepared him for presidency.

“The experience that helped prepare me the most was being a Senator for the past three years,” said McCoy. “My one year as Executive Vice-President was especially helpful. Besides that, I also think the fact that I have been a student at Waynesburg University for three years will help, since it has allowed me to become very familiar with the student body and wider campus community.”

McCoy said that one of his goals to accomplish during his term in the leadership position is to increase the Student Senate’s presence on campus. He also plans on improving students’ college experience by having the university host more stress-relief events around mid-terms and finals, as well as hosting more campus-wide speakers and bringing new events to the university.

“At our core, we are a group that is supposed to work to improve every student’s on-campus experience, and that is what I aim to do,” said McCoy.

The university is not the only place McCoy aims for the senate to influence during his time as president. McCoy wants to inspire growth within the town of Waynesburg’s small businesses by encouraging students to support those businesses.

“I would also like to see if we could implement a program to encourage Waynesburg University students to patronize the borough’s downtown businesses,” said McCoy. “An initiative to do that would both serve the student body and would benefit the wider community.”

McCoy is available for contact with questions about his specific agendas as Student Senate president at mcc8060@student.waynesburg.edu.