Andi Dahmer joined the Student Government Association her freshman year because of her brother. At MASTER Plan, she was introduced to a few members and knew she wanted to be a part of the organization.

“I knew it was something I wanted to be involved with just because of the impact that it could have on student lives and make a difference,” Dahmer said.

A little over a year later, Dahmer knew she wanted to run for SGA president.

And, perhaps unknown to her then, the Louisville sophomore would come to gain the presidency. Winning nearly 60 percent of the votes in this semester’s SGA election, Dahmer was elected as the next president of SGA.

Once Dahmer knew she wanted to start campaigning, she began meeting with Savannah Molyneaux and Kara Lowry, who would become her Executive Vice President and Administrative Vice President, respectively.

“I thought about it and said ‘yeah, I think we could do this,’” she said.

The trio started meeting regularly to come up with a campaign strategy. They also brought on Conner Hounshell as their campaign manager, Hounshell is slated to will be Dahmer’s chief of staff.

Molyneaux said she is excited to work with Dahmer in the upcoming year and benefit the university through different programs.

“While I was talking with Andi, and she wanted me to be her running mate, I really couldn’t think of a better person for that job,” Molyneaux said. “I was really excited to be able to run with her and help her if she was elected, and it all worked out.”

Molyneaux said when she thinks of someone presidential,  she thinks of Dahmer.

“This is something that she’s wanted for a very long time and she’s worked very hard to get there,” she said. “She’s a person that thinks of ideas and plans and actually follows through with them.”

Lowry agrees Dahmer is going to work hard as SGA President.

“When I found out Andi was running for president, and she contacted me about being her AVP, I was like ‘Yes, this is perfect, there’s no one else I would rather run with,” Lowry said. “I was really excited.”

Lowry said Dahmer is one of the most dedicated people she has ever met.

“She pours her heart and soul into SGA,” she said. “She is just one of the most involved and caring people that I have ever met, and I think those are two really important qualities that the president should have.”

Hounshell said Dahmer has already brought many things to SGA, specifically inclusion. He also said she has a upbeat spirit that will help her while she is SGA president.

“I think that will be a good, creative atmosphere,” Hounshell said. “It will be a very approachable atmosphere for students to come and speak with representatives.”

Hounshell said his time spent working with Dahmer has been exciting and he is confident she is the perfect person for the job.

“I don’t even know how she does the things she does, honestly,” he said.

He said she is always very involved and would keep working hard even when she was extremely busy.

Dahmer said she couldn’t have done it without her team. Throughout all of their campaigning, they didn’t stop working on legislation for SGA.

“We were still talking about different ways that we could achieve our goals for campus and meet with other students and make sure that their needs were being met,” Dahmer said.

Dahmer campaigned on a three-fold platform. The first was inclusion.

“That’s making sure that the marginalized student population and international students really have their voices heard on campus,” she said.

To do this, Dahmer said they want to institute an international student and domestic student “buddy system.” This would be instituted for an entire semester in order to make international students who are new to campus feel more comfortable.

She also wants to incorporate sensitivity training, especially for faculty working with the LGBT community and transgender students.

The second platform is sustainability. Molyneaux has served as the chair of the Sustainability Committee. She implemented a game day recycling committee program. They hope to get more students involved with this program.

The third platform is dependability. They want to specifically make the transition between President Gary Ransdell’s presidency and Timothy Caboni’s a smooth one.

“Dr. Caboni’s willingness to work with us and his openness to meet with us is definitely something that we have achieved,” she said.

Dahmer is hopeful that these three platforms will be achieved during the next year. She said she is excited for the upcoming year and looks forward to serving the WKU community. 

Reporter Anna Lawson can be reached at 270-745-2655 and [email protected].