Last semester, two candidates ran unopposed for two of Student Government’s top positions.

Since then, Student Body Treasurer Elmo Lamm and Student Senate President Kelli Rogers have made it their goals to increase SG’s visibility on campus, and the organization’s open houses last week were one step toward bringing in new interested students.

Rogers said while most of the students that visited SG’s Witherspoon office were freshmen, she was particularly pleased with the turnout of upperclassmen.

“Both the open houses were extremely successful,” Rogers said. “We had a lot of students come that were interested in joining.”

Rogers said she hopes having more members will help diversify SG, bringing in new perspectives as the organization looks to shed its “good ol’ boys club” image.

“I think that competition is essential to a successful Student Government in every branch and at all times,” Rogers, a senior in political science, said. “It keeps the officers and members accountable and it challenges them to constantly improve.”

Rogers said she was dissappointed in the number of candidates for positions last year, and hopes to create more interest in SG during her term.

“I was dissapointed that last year we had two uncontested officer postions,” she said. “It is definitely one of my goals this year to raise the bar for both of those positions so they’re more attractive.”

Eleven freshmen senate seats are open this semester, and Rogers said more than 40 senators have already filed.

SG’s adviser, Eileen Marin, is excited about the projections for membership increases this year.  

” I’m excited to see new faces that can bring about new ways to address different issues,” Marin, who is in her second year of advising N.C. State’s student government, said.  

Marin said while she would prefer to have more members, the lack of opponents in last year’s elections didn’t have an effect on the efficiency of student government.

“I really think we have a lot of strong, ethical leaders,” Marin said. “We have leaders that truly want to represent the student voice.”  

Lamm said he felt running unopposed actually helped him transition better into his role.

“It made it easier to focus on the position rather than focusing on winning,” Elmo said.

Lamm said he was able to learn most of his duties during the actual campaign so when it came time to serve, he was adequately prepared to be treasurer.

Lamm said he thinks it’s better to have a new faces and a diverse organization so all

student needs can be met.  

Student Body President Jim Ceresnak was one of those new faces last year after he transferred from Georgia to join SG.

Ceresnak said while it was challenging to step into such a high position without having prior experience, he dedicated a lot of time to learn the ropes, but said he’d like to see more students in the organization.

“To me [having two positions unopposed last year] says we don’t have enough people involved,” Ceresnak, a senior in political science, said.

Editor-in-Chief Ty Johnson contributed to this article.