'I guess we need a conservative:' LI trained student wins campus vice presidency
Ava Sherwood is a sophomore at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania studying environmental science and political science.
“I just wanted someone who shared my values to be on the executive board and someone who’s actually going to get work done,” Sheerwood told Campus Reform.
Ava Sherwood, who attended a Leadership Institute (LI) Campus Election Workshop, was elected Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs for Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.
A sophomore, Sherwood is an environmental science and political science student and also serves as a field representative for LI, the parent organization of Campus Reform.
Sherwood told Campus Reform that she was not planning on throwing her hat into the ring for an executive board position, but when she noticed that no one else was running for the slot, she told herself “Well, I guess we need a conservative voice in it.”
So using her LI training, Sherwood organized a successful write-in vote campaign, earning over 150 votes in an unusual mechanism for a student government election.
“I just wanted someone who shared my values to be on the executive board and someone who’s actually going to get work done,” she said.
In her new position, Sherwood takes the role of being a delegate for the student body very seriously.
“I believe that elected officials, no matter how small or big the offices, are public servants,” she voiced. “I just want to serve the students in any way that they need.”
Listening to student concerns and using her academic disciplines, Sherwood hopes to improve the recycling program on campus and hold the administration accountable for greater green initiatives.
Eventually, Sherwood hopes to pursue environmental law and policy, developing a more robust “right-wing environmentalism.”
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In the meantime, however, Sherwood’s top priority is “bridging that gap between students and administration, [and] creating a super-transparent, open environment for students.”
“Student government, in my opinion, was inaccessible to some for a long time and still kind of is, so I’m hoping to turn that around,” Sherwood notes. She and her colleagues intend to host more in-person events, such as town halls, to increase access and representation for all students in the campus community.
She said her ultimate goal in this position is to “put the students’ voices in student government.”
