Photo credit: University of Georgia.
Three University of Georgia students are making history by becoming the first Black leaders to hold the top three positions in the school’s student government at the same time, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Ammishaddai Grand-Jean, Charlene Marsh and Destin Mizelle have recently been elected president, vice president and treasurer, respectively. They ran together as friends under a campaign called “Believe” with three goals in mind: making government more connected to its students, creating transparent discussions around issues like diversity, sexual assault and mental health, and fostering a cooperative spirit among student organizations.
Photo credit: University of Georgia
“I want to thank all of you for rising with us last year and believing in us this year,” Grand-Jean told the college newspaper The Red & Black.
Grand-Jean and Marsh are not the first Black students to hold the president and vice president position with Telvis Rich and Ron Jones holding these positions in 1993. However, Mizelle is the first Black student to serve as treasurer since the position was not added to the executive ticket until 2007. Together, Grand-Jean, Marsh and Mizelle are the first Black trio to hold these top leadership positions simultaneously.
A record number of 8,000 UGA students voted in total, with the “Believe” campaign receiving more than 4,000 of the votes.
Photo credit: University of Georgia
“It’s unreal right now,” said Marsh. “I did not think anything like this was going to happen.”
The trio will officially be handed over their responsibilities as student government leaders at inauguration on April 4 in the UGA Chapel.