I am Ivey Best and I love this school. I love this university, our students, our campus, our faculty and our traditions. From the moment I stepped foot on this campus, my heart has been captured by The University of Alabama. This love for our school has powered my passion for serving students. SGA is not about publicity, prestige, or popularity – each day I wake up excited to leave a legacy at UA and I hope that in some way, I can leave UA a better place then when I found it. Out of that hope, SGA became the place I have served students for the past two years and I am now thrilled to be a candidate for SGA’s vice president of External Affairs.

External Affairs’ responsibility is to be a liaison between students and their outside communities. As VPEA, that’s exactly what I’ll do by focusing on increasing funding for Higher Education, civically engaging students to become educated on candidates and register to vote, and creating a student populous who is empowered to be the best they can through adequate transportation around Tuscaloosa and excitement about local service.

SGA means students serving students. As a First Year Councilor and as director of Lobby Board, I have seen the ways I can impact this school and leave it better than I found it. The past year I have witnessed problems occurring on our campus and sacrificed to turn those deficits into tangible solutions and positive change. By advocating for students to outside communities and being a liaison on behalf of the student body, I will aid our school to become its best. I believe becoming the next vice president of External Affairs will enable me to serve and sacrifice to make real change and represent students.

For our best campus, city, and state, we need equitable Higher Education funding, empowerment through transportation, and excitement about local service.

The University of Alabama has experienced so much growth in 2015. We welcomed a new president to the Capstone, the Crimson Tide brought home their sixteenth national championship, and our SGA has made major strides to better our campus. I am so blessed to have served under the 2015-16 SGA administration in the External Affairs branch led by Jonathan Hess. Jonathan and the external cabinet have done an incredible job promoting safe transportation and inclusivity between UA, the City of Tuscaloosa, and the State of Alabama. I plan to continue these innovative initiatives as Vice President of External Affairs and use my passion and love for this school, city, and state to serve UA to my best ability. I love this place we call home for four years and all that it stands for. I hope that you’ll join me in that love and work to make UA the best it can be. I promise to fight for our best campus, city, and state – let’s be better together.

Ivey Best is running a write-in campaign for vice president of External Affairs.