MSA threw a mid-semester pep rally to give students a place to celebrate the semester and announce their new academic senators.
The Missouri Students Association welcomed students into Speakers Circle on Friday, Nov. 5 for the MSA Pep Rally featuring henna body art, popcorn, pizza and snow cones to celebrate MSA’s work throughout the year and announce fall election results.
The idea behind the pep rally came from MSA President Miyah Jones and Vice President Cydney Perkins. According to Perkins, the first thing the Jones-Perkins campaign did during their 2023 election campaign was a pep rally, they said their pep rallies were something that helped them to be elected. Jones said the pep rally is a way for students to come and meet with MSA informally.
“We definitely want every student who comes to the university to know what MSA is because you’re paying 10 to 11 dollars for the association, so your input should be here,” Perkins said.
MSA also used the pep rally for the new Board of Elections Commissioner Evan Guadalajara to announce the results of the 2023 fall senatorial elections. Guadalajara reported that MSA received 905 votes in the fall election, a 62% increase in voter turnout from last year.
Guadalajara started by announcing the results of a student referendum to create a new senate organization seat for the Associated Students of the University of Missouri, this vote failed on a vote of 453-281 – not meeting the required 66% needed to pass. Guadalajara next announced the 34 newly elected academic senators for each specific college at MU.
Keyala Wallock and Kate Karpinski — the two of the new academic senators from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the College of Health Sciences respectively – described the election process as an opportunity to spread awareness about MSA and the ongoing elections.
“I definitely want to spread the word, since not many people know about MSA, which is surprising since it’s the student government on campus,” Karpinski said.
Jones and Perkins expressed that they want the MSA Pep Rally to become an annual event, in order to continue to build student awareness and interaction with the association.
Edited by Sam Barrett | sbarrett@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Hannah Taylor and Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com
