Just one race was contested in last week’s Student Government Association spring elections, but current President Colton Jessie said he isn’t worried about the strength of next year’s executive branch.

“This year there weren’t as many people willing to step up,” Jessie said. “But everything worked out, and we have a great future (executive board).”

Billy Stephens defeated Diego Leal Ambriz for SGA president, while Kendrick Bryan won the executive vice president race uncontested after Katie Stillwell dropped out of the race. Devon Hilderbrandt ran unopposed for the administrative vice president position.

Stephens said that, given the circumstances, the elections went fairly well.

“If Stillwell would have ran that election would have been close,” he said. “And I don’t think anybody else wanted to run for AVP because Devon was the best candidate and everyone knew.”

Jessie said there are never a lot of people that run for executive roles because of the time commitment.

“Those positions are a whole lot of work, and a lot of people in our organization are in other clubs,” he said. “It’s a big commitment, so I can understand why not a lot of people ran.”

The senate elections were also uncontested, as just 35 students ran for the 36 seats. It looked as if the race was going to be contested, but Jessie said two students were declared ineligible to run due to grades.

Jessie said fall senate elections are usually more competitive than spring elections.

“This is a busy time of year, and people are focused on other things,” he said. “But when students come back in the fall, they seem to be more energized and more willing to join organizations.”

Stephens said he will be working with Bryan and the future public relations chair to market SGA. The goal is to convince more students to join the organization in the fall.

“I’ve been going around organizations talking to people, and we will do the same thing next semester,” Stephens said. “We will work hand in hand to get the word out about SGA.”

Bryan said new marketing partnerships will help SGA generate more applications. He mentioned Students in Free Enterprise, the American Marketing Association and Imagewest as groups SGA could work with in the future to raise visibility.