TCU’s Student Government Association gained two new additions Tuesday that give a voice to the largest class on campus.

First-year students Chandler Williams and Michael McCluskey were sworn into the student House of Student Representatives for the Class of 2019.

“They are a really important perspective,” House Speaker Abigail Buckley said.

Buckley said the student House usually doesn’t have first-year student representatives.

“That’s a whole quarter of our student body population,” Buckley said. “It’s nice to have that perspective, because the things they encounter and think are things maybe upperclassman don’t notice anymore or aren’t on campus to notice.”

Buckley said that she encourages the new representatives to speak up and propose legislation.

“I will represent YOU”

Williams, a pre-business major from Shreveport, Louisiana, said she ran for a position in House because she wants to get to know her class and TCU better.

“I felt like if I represented my class they would be able to come to me and say ‘I have this great idea, can you propose it and help it get pushed through?’” Williams said.

Williams campaigned by going dorm to dorm posting flyers and talking to students in the different lobbies.

“I ended up meeting a lot more people,” Williams said. “I wanted to win but also meet people.”

Williams serves on the Student Experience Committee in House and while she has no current plans for legislation, Williams said she has already started brainstorming.

“Ask me at the end of the year and I will definitely have something,” Williams said.

For any students who have ideas or concerns they want the House to know, Williams encourages students to come talk to her.

“I absolutely love to talk to anyone and everyone, so please come find me,” Williams said. “If they can’t get me in person, they can email me.”

“No Days Off”

The other Class of 2019 representative, McCluskey, a pre-business major from Atlanta near the Marietta suburbs, based his campaign by reaching out to his Frog Camp group  for support, and then using word of mouth among his Pi Kappa Phi brothers and his friends’ poster making skills.

“The backbone of my campaign was Jake’s funny posters of me in various movie posters posing as the character in the poster,” McCluskey said. “From there it spread to word of mouth. It was really, ‘Hey just go vote for me, I try to be a decent person. You can always come to me with problems.’”

McCluskey was never involved in student government in high school because he said that elections were never publicized. He said this motivated him to run his first year on campus.

“This was something I wanted to get involved with early on in TCU because I didn’t know how the system worked and if I got involved early I would always know,” McCluskey said.

McCluskey serves on the Student Outreach Committee in house and he said he plans to use his spot on the committee to bring his passion for philanthropy to students.

“At TCU where we are called to be ethical leaders in a global community,” McCluskey said “I think the committee is going to do more this year to get involved in the community around us.”

McCluskey said any student with an idea should find him, as he prefers face-to-face meetings.

“I try to be as accessible as I can,” McCluskey said.

The new representatives have the ability to draft and vote on legislation. Buckley said she is excited about the energy McCluskey and Williams will bring to House.

“Freshman are so excited about everything and they are just really eager to get started and learn and get involved. It’s just cool to see freshman take initiative,” Buckley said.

Looking Forward 

While Williams and McCluskey filled two of the open seats in house, there are eight other open seats that remain. The Elections and Regulations Committee is currently looking for students to fill seats in the Honors College, the College of Science and Engineering, the Neeley School of Business, the College of Education, the Harris College of Nursing and the Class of 2016.

“It’s open to anyone so even if someone didn’t apply in the past, I’d love to get even more people apply now,” Elections and Regulations Committee chair Morgan Bailie said. “The sooner people start applying for positions the better for them so they can interview sooner.”

Applications for the open seats can be found on the SGA website under the get involved tab. Interviews for the open seats start next week but students can keep applying as long as there are empty seats in House.

“I would encourage everyone to apply,” Buckley said. “We would like a variety of perspectives and a variety of backgrounds and if you’ve never dealt with student government before that’s okay. If it’s something you’re at all interested in, I encourage you to apply.”