Throughout the past year, the Kernel editorial board has taken Student Government to task when necessary and praised when needed. But in order to continue some of the positive trends this year’s administration has attempted (notably proposed changes to Dead Week), Ryan Smith is the best candidate for SG president.

Smith is SG’s current Board of Trustees Advisory Board chair, and we feel that gives him a large advantage over the other two candidates. If Smith is elected SG president, he’ll receive a position and vote on the Board of Trustees to represent UK students.

“That position carries with it a lot of responsibility and a lot of influence,” Smith said in a Tuesday Kernel article.

He’s right. That’s the one area SG and its president can legitimately have an impact on this campus. At the meetings, he’d be interacting with the most influential people at the university and that’s an outlet to effect change. The fact that Smith has served on SG’s Board of Trustees advisory boards means it’s likely that Smith is already familiar to the trustees as well.

Along with his Board of Trustees vote, Smith also plans on implementing a program called “Tally Cats,” which was created by the Emerging Leader Institute and summit group. It’s a points system that would track students’ attendance at events and accumulated points could be redeemed for rewards, according to the article. For those students who are extremely active on campus, this system would reward them for their dedication.

His idea of a peer-advising program could also have a positive effect on the university and its students. Pairing a younger student with an older, more experienced student could help them get more acclimated with the university and could possibly help improve retention rates.

It also seems that since Smith is currently involved in SG he will continue to work to implement the Dead Week plan started by Tyler Montell’s administration. It’s more likely there will be a smooth transition between administrations because of his involvement.

Most importantly, Smith is the best man for the job because he has goals that are realistic for his job title. You can’t expect to change the world as SG president.

Which leads us to Colby Khoshreza. He will probably make a great run at Smith because of his involvement and connections on campus, but it seems like most of his ideas are just too farfetched. Again, the job comes with a big, fancy title, but the SG president doesn’t really have a lot of power to make fundamental changes to the university.

Tyler Owen, the self-proclaimed “average guy” of the election, doesn’t really seem to have any solid plans in place and has no idea what he’d be getting himself into. The SG world is competitive and Owen just isn’t up for that.

Ryan Smith is the best candidate for the position and has the most experience. He knows the ins and outs of SG because of his involvement and his practical plans make him the most likely to succeed in the job.