Get to Know Your Next SGA President, Vice President
UPDATE, May 5, 2023: The Talon can confirm that Natalie Johnson will no longer serve as 2023-2024 SGA President. Lauryn Juarez will fill both roles, and Director of Student Engagement Danny Ringenoldus will assist with some of the VP responsibilities.
March 22, 2023 — The ballots were cast, and the new SGA President and Vice President are upcoming seniors Natalie Johnson and Lauryn Juarez! The new President is Natalie Johnson, a 20-year-old Interpersonal Communications major with a minor in Cross-Cultural Studies. Lauryn Juarez is working alongside Johnson as her Vice President. Juarez is a 19-year-old Ministry Leadership major with a minor in Bible and Theology.
Both Johnson and Juarez have been involved in campus leadership roles in the last three years. Johnson has held several leadership roles, including her involvement in SGA’s publicity team – where she is in charge of creating flyers and managing several of TFC’s social media pages – and Campus Life Committee, where she helped coordinate campus events for the student body. Johnson has also worked in the Odyssey Coffeehouse, Admissions Office, Custodial Department, and as Eagle Radio Manager!
Juarez has been a key leader of Lighthouse Outreach for two years, serving as a member of the leadership team her first year before being elected this year’s President. Last year, she led an all girls’ Barnabas group centering on joy and encouraging women to focus on things that add joy to their lives. Juarez also serves with Upper Room, a student-lead worship service on Sunday nights that has become very popular with students.
When Johnson and Juarez step into their new roles as SGA President and Vice President, they will be in charge of managing all clubs on campus.
Natalie Johnson, 2023-2024 SGA President
The election process
This year’s SGA presidential election is different from typical elections. Usually, the election process consists of two-person teams who have chosen each other as their running mates and submitted an application to Danny Ringenoldus, Director of Student Engagement. During campaign week, each team sets up a table in the Student Center to introduce themselves and their vision to the student body. Afterwards, SGA hosts a big event to celebrate the end of campaign week.
This year is different because it is the second consecutive year where a team has run unopposed. Running unopposed limited Johnson and Juarez’s campaign to the creation of an Instagram account. Though students still voted in an election through Google Forms, many were upset that unlike previous years where they could write-in other candidates, this year’s ballot was limited to either voting for Johnson and Juarez or abstaining a vote.
Lauryn Juarez, 2023-2024 SGA Vice President
Their inspiration
Johnson and Juarez were heavily inspired by current and former SGA Presidents Emily Johnson and Joshua Bingham, as well as Vice Presidents Jacob Hunt and Tim Heath. Johnson says she has enjoyed watching the current President and Vice President, Johnson and Hunt, operate the student government and manage clubs. She also says she admired how former President and Vice President Bingham and Heath were the kind of people who could bump into a random student, say hello and call them by name. Seeing her friends grow in learning how to lead and form new relationships with people is something that Johnson wants for herself in her term as President.
Juarez was also inspired by watching Hunt interact with members of Lighthouse Outreach. He had a very friendly and knowledgeable presence among the Lighthouse community and was able to build great relationships with club leaders. Juarez wants to spend her time as Vice President getting to know people through her involvement with clubs and the TFC community.
For their upcoming term, Johnson and Juarez seek to accomplish three major platforms: passion, oneness and purpose. The pair love TFC for its close community and want to reignite the campus’s passion in caring for one another and uniting as one. Concerning their mission for “purpose”, Johnson seeks to empower her team to best serve the student body while Juarez is focusing on spiritual growth. Juarez looks forward to “encouraging everybody’s passion” and building them up with prayer and comfort as a spiritual leader.
Johnson and Jaurez encourage future leaders at TFC to trust God through questioning, heaviness and last minute decisions.
“If there’s a passion on your heart, He’s going to show you why there is a passion on your heart. Even if you don’t get a position, there’s going to be a reason why you tried,” Juarez says.