Motivated by the friendships she’s cultivated in Student Government, Sydney Honeycutt wants to come back to the Student Senate.
The current District E senator and 18-year-old UF agricultural education and communication sophomore has been a member of Impact Party for the past year and wants to compete for the District A seat.
“I have been really impressed by the constant positivity and dedication to the Student Body that all of the Impact leaders have had,” Honeycutt said.
Despite an initial drop in the number of students interviewing for Fall SG Senate positions, the number of applicants rose slightly compared to last Fall.
A total of 239 students met with SG parties Impact and Inspire from Aug. 30 to Tuesday for the upcoming Sept. 25 and 26 election., SG Supervisor of Elections Henry Fair wrote in an email. This is 16 more students than last Fall when 223 students registered. However, these numbers are down from last Spring when 302 showed an interest in becoming a part of Student Government.
Inspire Party met with a total of 72 students during the three-day interviewing period, Fair said. This is a slight increase to the 66 who interviewed with the party in Fall 2017, which is when Inspire was created.
Impact Party met with a total of 167 students, Fair said. This is an increase from last Fall with 153 students.
No students registered as independent candidates or were undecided, Fair said. Last Fall, two students registered as undecided and another two registered as independent.
Twenty-seven students sat down with Challenge Party in the Spring, which didn’t register this semester.
Zarella Berrocal wants to defend her position as District D senator.
The 20-year-old UF biomedical engineering junior interviewed with Inspire Party because, as a first-generation college student, the party represents diverse students like her, she said.
“We fight for students who don’t have a voice,” Berrocal said. “We’re never gonna turn down anybody, and that’s what I appreciate about my party.”
Contact Gillian Sweeney at gsweeney@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @gilliangsweeney
