The dining room of Kappa Alpha erupted in cheer as Price McGiffert, a junior majoring in civil engineering, was announced the 2018-2019 SGA president Tuesday night. McGiffert took 68 percent of the votes cast this election.

Pats on the back and high-fives between McGiffert’s campaign members, fraternity brothers and friends continued long after the announcement was made at 8 p.m.

“It feels truly incredibly,” McGiffert said. “I could not be more excited. I had the best campaign team behind me the whole time. We worked tirelessly for the past few weeks, and it’s been so fun getting to meet so many people at the University.”

In the moments leading up to the announcement, suspense and anticipation surrounded the large group crowded around a laptop. Everyone was waiting to see if their campaigning efforts in the last few weeks paid off. McGiffert himself ate his first meal of the day only half an hour before his victory was announced.

“It was a long week, but finding out the results was a very relieving moment,” said Stephanie Gaytan, a senior majoring in public relations and spanish and McGiffert’s co-campaign manager.

One of the main ideas McGiffert’s campaign revolved around was student diversity and inclusion. McGiffert said he is excited to get to work on this point at the University.

“The first thing I want to do is start working on the constitutional amendment for the new vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion,” McGiffert said. “That’s the first thing I want to start working on tonight.”

Members of McGiffert’s campaign shared his enthusiasm for his plans this upcoming year.

“I’m very excited for him,” said PJ Hatcher, a senior majoring in economics and McGiffert’s co-campaign manager. “It’s a great opportunity for him to serve. He has a lot of great ideas and platforms that he ran on that we’re very excited to execute those this coming year. Personally, i’m definitely excited for the vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

McGiffert expressed his gratitude to the voters and to his opponents. He also shared his hopeful outlook on the year to come.

“I just want to first thank Amber and Marissa,” McGiffert said. “It was a hard-fought race, and I had so much fun getting to work with them and getting closer with them. I hope we can continue to work together in the future and I think can do a lot of things to make this University best it can possibly be.”