By Erin Melwing

Ryan Smith stood with supporters waiting for election results on the Student Center patio Thursday, arms crossed and a nervous look on his face.

The numbers were announced — Smith and running mate Kelsey Hayes won, beating fellow Student Government presidential candidates Colby Khoshreza and Tyler Owen.

The nervousness left, and screaming, applauding supporters surrounded Smith. Some of his fraternity brothers tackled him.

Smith was all smiles.

“It’s exciting and surprising,” Smith said after the announcement. “More or less, it’s an incredible honor to be selected by the student body for this office.”

With a student voter turnout of 20.5 percent, the 2009 SG election marked the highest voter turnout since the 1970s, Smith said. It was also the first year of online voting with more than one candidate, he said.

Smith was encouraged by the number of supporters for each candidate, the reasons that students supported their candidates and the high student turnout for voting, he said.

Smith and Hayes plan to work throughout the last few weeks of school and throughout the summer months to ensure the most effective transition between the current SG administration and his team, Smith said.

“We are going to meet with student representatives from various organizations and leaders across campus to come up with the best possible solutions to challenges we face and work to implement the policies and goals of our administration to move this campus and community forward,” Smith said.

The pair also plans to start working on their $250,000 scholarship and peer-advising program for incoming freshmen this fall, Hayes said.

In the fall, students can expect a few elements of restructuring to the current SG and for Smith and Hayes to build on the successes of the current administration.

“We hope to make a lot of positive, realistic changes that will be here after our year in office,” Hayes said.

The Smith-Hayes administration plans to enact a variety of new programs on campus next year including “Tally Cats” and a peer advising program.

Tally Cats, created by the Emerging Leader Institute and the University Leadership Summit, is a points system that would track students’ attendance at campus events and reward students with accumulated points at the end of the year.

The peer advising program will allow incoming freshmen to get better acclimated to university life through matching the freshman student with an older peer, in hopes of assisting the issue of retention rates.

Smith also plans to work with the university and legislators to try and develop a “realistic approach to tuition.” To help students with rising tuition, Smith plans to enact a $250,000 scholarship fund to provide financial assistance, he said.