Video produced by CTV News.
Jason Sydoriak and Taylor Albaugh were elected as the president and vice president of the Associated Students of Colorado State University Wednesday.
“I’m ecstatic, mostly because I had so many people’s support behind us, and that’s what really did it — that’s what really propelled us,” Sydoriak said after the results were announced during ASCSU senate. “It’s incredible that we had more voter turnout than last year — it’s not as much as I would like, but that really shows that this wasn’t some sort of lame duck election. That shows that people are interested in making sure that this campus is taken care of.”
Sydoriak and Albaugh won with 2,014 votes, or 50.12 percent.
“I absolutely can’t believe it right now — it’s almost surreal,” Albaugh said. “I cannot wait to get started and start serving the students. This is out of this world.”
Andrew Bondi, Sydoriak and Albaugh’s co-campaign manager, has worked on several ASCSU campaigns, but said he was the most nervous to hear this year’s results.
“We had no feeling as to how it was going to turn out,” Bondi said. “We were horrified that Clayton and Kwon were actually going to be able to mobilize the general student voter, but at the end of the day what it really came down to was that we had the right candidates, and we had an amazing support team to get it done this year. I had more help this year than I ever have in my entire time of running campaigns, and I think that’s what legitimately won all of this for us.”
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Photos: Abbie Parr and Cameron Bumstead
Sydoriak and Albaugh ran on platforms of academics, experience and inclusion, promising to advocate for universal printing, an additional .33 GPA for an A+ grade, late night food and free parking during finals week, a campus review board for CSUPD and a Middle Eastern cultural center. They said while campaigning that they hope to bring the student voice to the administration and allow the two groups to be on the same page.
Kwon Yearby and Clayton King had 1,412 votes, and write-in candidates Lauren Wester and Filipp Dedogryuk had 217 votes.
“I appreciate all of the support that I received from my running partner, Filipp Dedogryuk, my campaign team and my fellow students who supported me,” Wester wrote in a message to the Collegian. “I would like to wish Jason and Taylor the best and know that they will do an excellent job representing the student body.”
Senators were also elected to represent each college:
College of Business: Connor Grieshaber, Mike Lenskey, William Myrick
College of Liberal Arts: Kelsey Bigham, Spencer Nolan, Pranaya Sathe, Josh Williams, Taylor Bryan, Carroll Conley
College of Natural Sciences: Kalyn Bonn
Intra-University: Christian Harbert, Luke Yeager, Nathan Rhine
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences: Yunus Ozekin, Jon Goldstone
College of Engineering: Chris Bueno, Peter Seel, Kassi Prochazko
College of Agricultural Sciences: Adrian Bailey, Ashley Higgins
Warner College of Natural Resources: Kyle Gruenhagen
College of Health and Human Science: Chris Brancoccio, Michelle Sogge, Jessica Teal
Graduate School: Andrew Bondi, Mohamed Jefri
Voter turnout in this year’s election was 4,018 students, or 16.32 percent of the student body.
The ASCSU constitution was approved.
Collegian News Editor Caitlin Curley and Reporter Ellie Mulder can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @CaitlinJCurley and @lemarie.
CTV Manager Kerry O’Connor and CTV News Reporter Brynn Carman can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @KerryOconnorTV and @BrynnCarmanTV.
