SGA Presidential Candidates: Bingham and Heath
Two teams are running in the 2021 SGA race at TFC. Joshua Bingham is running for SGA president, with Tim Heath as his running mate.
Joshua is currently a technical senior, majoring in Youth Ministry, as well as Bible and Theology. Bingham will be a senior next year as well, as he explained that he “literally added another major to run for SGA president.” Extra-curriculars for Joshua include working in the library and being on SGA senate. With his experience on the senate, Joshua is most excited at the prospect of being able to continue to improve it. Bingham wants to be SGA president because he “does not want to leave TFC without leaving an impact.” After graduating TFC, Joshua is hoping to do youth ministry, potentially overseas.
Tim is currently a junior, majoring in Outdoor Leadership, as well as Bible and Theology. Some of Tim’s extracurriculars include working in admissions and being on the SGA senate. Heath is wanting to be SGA vice president because “everyone at TFC has made such an impact on [him. He] just want[s] to give back.” Heath is very excited about the thought of being SGA vice president, but he says that the most exciting things are “working with Josh and clubs. There is an overall love for clubs, and they need to be improved in overall growth, marketing, and finance use.”
Smaller goals, such as club awareness and support are important to the Bingham-Heath campaign, but there are four main focuses: Mental Health, Spiritual Growth, Bringing Back Hype, and Racial Equality.
Mental Health in the world, and specifically this campus, has been different since COVID-19. With condensed semesters and added overall stress, rest is vital for the students and faculty at TFC. Joshua and Tim want to work on changing some of the rest days to weekends, as well as creating restful de-stressor events to fully maximize rest periods. Another thing that Bingham and Heath would do to help mental health on campus, is “work on utilizing the campus life senate position as a general Campus Wellbeing position.” Joshua and Tim are also wanting to utilize some of the counseling services, but the extent of how is unknown. Mental Health changes would also involve Mental Health Awareness, and the potential for B-Groups to focus on Mental Health.
Spiritual Growth is important to Joshua and Tim, and something they would be fighting to change. One of the things that Tim and Joshua want to create is a co-ed, open prayer room. Weekly devotionals would be going out if Bingham and Heath were to win, and there would be a push for more small groups. There is a Spiritual position on the SGA senate, and that is something that Joshua and Tim really want to utilize for better events and resources promoting Spiritual growth.
“Bringing Hype back to campus” is largely based on student engagement and events. It does not take much for some people to get hyped but trying to maintain an excitement level during COVID-19 can be challenging. Getting an entire college campus to remain excited about college cannot be easy. Joshua and Tim are aware that excitement levels are down due to COVID-19, and that there is work cut out for them. Despite the work and challenges though, the Bingham-Heath team wants to bring some joy and excitement back to campus. Little things like hyping up sports can even make a big difference, with Josh sharing that he wants to “create lots of big heads.”
Racial equality is also important anywhere that you go. Joshua and Tim are aware of the problem of racism and are doing to work on racial equality. The first step for Bingham and Heath is simply stepping back, and realizing that they do not know much about racism. Education is the next step for Joshua and Tim, as they understand that they do not fully know or understand the feelings of being judged for their skin color. Upon getting a little bit more education, Joshua and Tim hope to create heritage and cultural appreciation events and spread awareness of racial equality as a whole. Bingham and Heath also plan to create events and forums that would allow minorities to have their voices heard clearer, with plans to have a diverse SGA council making that a little bit easier.
For more information on their campaign, Joshua can be reached at JoshuaBingham@tfc.edu. Current students can vote through their email, or in the student center from 2/16-2/18.