Rachel Callaway elected new Student Government Association president

By Ryan, April 11, 2016

By Alexis Ancel // News Editor

With the current president of High Point University’s Student Government Association, Joshua Gilstrap, graduating in May, the position had yet to be filled for the 2016-2017 school year. After a great deal of consideration and campaigning, junior Rachel Callaway was recently elected HPU’s new SGA president to represent both SGA and the school as a whole.
In addition to other leadership roles on campus, including Resident Assistant in the women’s complex, Callaway’s involvement with SGA has predominantly been within the past year. She first started as a student justice doing advocate work, and prior to the presidential election, she held the position of Chief of Staff.
With no one yet in line to fill the position at the time presidential candidates were being considered, she was later approached by Gail Tuttle, senior vice president of student life, who asked if the role of SGA president was something she would be interested in. Callaway said, “At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, I wanted to make sure I really had a passion for it and that I could put everything into it beforehand.”
Callaway campaigned by hanging up posters, speaking at various organizations and sororities and participating in an SGA debate, all of which proved to be successful. Not only did Callaway win the first presidential campaign held at HPU in several years, as opposed to a candidate being appointed uncontested, but she is also the first female president to hold the title since 2005.
Looking ahead, Callaway is excited to be “a person that people can go to when they want to talk about the school. I’m very open to people coming up to me to discuss certain issues they have.”
She plans to use her new position as SGA president to focus on both diversity and service on campus. Though she described assembling an executive council as one of the more challenging aspects of the job, Callaway already has several people in line for various positions, including Diversity Chair.
“[I’ve enjoyed] learning from the current executive council and the people I’ve met in SGA,” Callaway said. “They have taught me a lot of life lessons through the different values and attributes each person brings to SGA.”
As president, Callaway will be working with university officials to further the mission of SGA by voicing students’ concerns and making sure organizations and clubs have the funding they need.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to be there for my fellow students and be a leader on campus,” Callaway said. “This role is very important to me and I take a lot of pride in the work I’ve done in the past and the work I will do.”