For immediate release
(Norcross, Georgia) – April 8, 2019 – Georgia State University, the nation’s ninth-largest university in enrollment and the largest in the state, made history this week with the election of its first ever Latina Student Government Association (SGA) President.
On Monday April 8, 2019, SGA made the official announcement that Jazmin Mejia would be the new University-Wide President-Elect for the 90th administration of the Student Government Association. Jazmin Mejia is a junior at the university’s College of Arts & Sciences, majoring in Political Science. Mejia is also a 2019 Spring Intern with GALEO and currently serves as one of her College’s undergraduate senators. She is slated to assume the position after being sworn in on May 10.
Mejia’s victory marks the end of a highly competitive and heavily followed electoral cycle which also saw an unprecedented voter turnout for a university election. Voter participation went up by 67% to 2,527 votes in comparison to the previous year’s turnout of 1,511.
In addition to the presidential election, GSU students also voted for several other SGA positions on their ballot, including vice-presidents, speakers and collegiate senators. Notably, Latinos also made strides in the Senate where they won five out of 27 seats – making the SGA Senate’s composition nearly 20% Latino.
One of those five seats will be filled by junior and current 2019 GALEO Spring Intern, Jennifer Lopez, who is pursuing a major in Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences which she will also represent as Senator. Lopez will be joined in leadership by the newly-elected Senators Uribe Valverde Ramirez, Kaylee Milani, Sebastian Garcia, and Michelle Martinez. Congratulations to all the winners!
GALEO Executive Director, Jerry Gonzalez, added, “Congratulations to both Jazmin Mejia on her historic election and to Jennifer Lopez for her election as Senator! We’ve had the privilege of working with both of them this semester as GALEO interns, and we know they will serve with honor the Georgia State University student body. We look forward to seeing these bright Latinas put their leadership skills into action!”
