Last Thursday, Jabari Cooper passed the torch onto new Fanshawe Student Union president, Joe Scalia.

“Joe has the experience and (he's) passionate about the FSU and issues facing the students,” said Cooper.

Scalia was voted in with 968 votes to Rob McGarry's 546, and he's grateful for each one of them.

“Thanks to everyone who voted and supported the campaign — people who came to talk to me, who told their friends,” he said.

Scalia is already an active member of the FSU as the Vice President Finance. This year, he was most proud of the FSU putting more money into bursaries for students.

He has also held the position of southwest director for the College Student Alliance this year, where he helped create a new provincial award that gives $1,000 to a student at each of the 17 member colleges.

The self-proclaimed “workaholic” has also been involved in examining the possibilities for more sustainable practices around the college, an issue that remains as one of his goal for the upcoming school year.

But the preliminary focus of his platform is communication — to reach out to more students, letting them know what the FSU can do for them, whether they're here for one year or four and he's prepared to hit the ground running this summer.

“Next year's going to be big — we're going to build on what we did this year and focus on getting more students involved in the student union even if it's just talking to them (about it),” he said.

Other goals he aims at accomplishing include better management of class representatives, open forums and a video blog to keep students in the loop, increased variety in events such as more open mic nights, free market events, addressing annual issues, such as Fleming, and putting students' interests first when dealing with the college.

The rest of the FSU team for 2010-2011 is as follows: Malcolm Philp will be reprising his role as VP external and academic affairs after defeating Bruce McDonald 830 votes to 633 votes; Andrew Payne, who ran uncontested, was voted in as VP finance with 1302 yes votes; Veronica Barahona, also uncontested, is the new VP internal affairs with 1271 yes votes; the new VP entertainment is Joe Ayotte, uncontested, with 1235 yes votes; and the new VP athletics is Derek Howes, uncontested, with 1329 yes votes.

FSU Election Results

Total ballots:		1566
President
SCALIA, Joe		968
MCGARRY, Rob		546
Spoiled		52
VP Finance (PAYNE, Andrew)
YES		1302
NO		174
Spoiled		90
VP Internal (BARAHONA, Veronica)
YES		1271
NO		209
Spoiled		86
VP External
PHILP, Malcolm		830
MCDONALD, Bruce		633
Spoiled		103
VP Athletics (HOWES, Derek R.)
YES		1329
NO		166
Spoiled		71
VP Entertainment (AYOTTE, Joe)
YES		1235
NO		235
Spoiled		96
Board of Governors
Mary Graham