by James Kile | Staff Writer
The next round of Associated Students of Whitworth University executive leaders has been voted on. On April 30, the student body elected three students for the ASWU roles of President, Executive Vice President and Financial Vice President for the 2020-2021 school year.
Parker Daniels, a junior health science major, was elected as ASWU’s president. Previously, Daniels has held leadership roles and has been involved in the Whitworth community.
Daniels has participated in leadership activities since junior high school. At Whitworth, he was a Zone Representative for Baldwin-Jenkins, Stewart, and the Village during his freshman year. His sophomore year, he served as a RA in Duvall Hall. This year, he held the position of Special Events Coordinator.
“I have been a part of ASWU for two years total at Whitworth, and I knew I wanted to continue my senior year, I was just not sure what exactly I wanted to do,” Daniels said. “At first, I was dead set on being Special Events Coordinator again, but after talking to a lot of people including this year’s president Rohini, I decided I really wanted to push myself.So, I decided I wanted to run for President. I knew I had the experience to continue to push ASWU to grow as well as help lead the team as servant leaders.”.
Elected as the Vice President, junior Hannah Higgins also shares a similar path to leadership as Daniels. Higgings is a psychology major who was a member of ASWU this past year as the Baldwin-Jenkins Senator.
“Over the past year, my involvement in ASWU cultivated so much self-growth and I am very thankful for the experience,” Higgins said. “Student representation at Whitworth can always be improved, and the position of EVP is the primary way to change things for the better. I began to feel inclined towards the role during this past fall, and after some soul-searching, decided to go for it.”
A current member of the ASWU executive team will continue into the role for the 2020-2021 school year. Junior Faizzan Ul Haq held the position of Financial Vice President last year and has reassumed the position after running with no competition.
Looking towards next year, Daniels is eager to make himself a resource for incoming students and is excited to start a Choose Love Initiative.
“This will involve random acts of kindness throughout the year for people around campus,” Daniels said.
Another important thing for Daniels will be building community among the ASWU team.
“In order for us to put out the best work for all the student body, we must first build chemistry like any other team,” Daniels said.
Higgins also mentioned she was excited to build new relationships within ASWU.
“The first thing I want to do in the role is begin to build good relationships with the rest of the ASWU 20-21 team. That will ensure that we will not only survive first-year orientation, but that we will be able to do our jobs with a strong support system behind us,” Higgins said.
Higgins also hopes to focus on equitable representation on and off campus for the Fall elections while in her role.
To learn more about ASWU, visit https://www.whitworthaswu.com/.