SG office manager’s departure is sad news to staff, student body

Do you remember that girl who replaced Kelly Kapowski for a season on “Saved By the Bell,” Tori? Yeah you do, she always wore this leather jacket and seemed a little too aggressive when flirting with Zack Morris. What about Wayne Arnold, the obnoxious older brother from “The Wonder Years?” Vinnie from “Doogie Howser?” Tommy from “Power Rangers?” Christian Laettner?

Believe it or not, all of these characters from popular culture play very insignificant roles in our memories: They are all people we were glad to see go.

How many of these characters really made momentous contributions to society? Although I hope they are alive and well, and out opening a royalty check somewhere, I really don’t miss them at all; in fact, I’m pretty happy to tell them goodbye.

At this time, I want to talk about someone that is the complete opposite of these people.

There are times in life that we do have to say goodbye to some special people, and it isn’t good. It isn’t fun, and we sure aren’t glad. Today I want to talk about one of those times, and just how special a friend we are saying goodbye to in UK Student Government.

Amanda Stringer, the SG office manager and a great friend to us all in SG, is packing up the family and heading out west; and in order to do that, she has to let us go in the process. She has been through four SG presidents in her tenure, and I think all of them could tell you they couldn’t do their job without her.

Amanda, outside of current SG President Nick Phelps, has the coolest office space in the whole place. Her big glass cube is filled with pictures and cool “Amanda” stuff, and she is always doing a thousand things at once, making her a true multi-tasker.

In addition to mastering office interior design, she has also set and broken her own record time for replying to e-mails and recovering files. Short of changing the water in the cooler, there isn’t anything that Amanda can’t do. Around our office, you don’t need an “Easy Button,” Amanda is more efficient than four of them together.

Amanda has helped so many of you in the student body, whether it was answering a question about one of the many SG services or helping your student organization receive funding. Her professionalism and grace have set such a positive impression for our organization, and she is always there when students have a problem.

The real joy of working with Amanda was getting the opportunity to live life with her from day to day. For the students who essentially live out of that office, Amanda was more, at times, a life coach than anything.

Amanda, I always joked, is like an “older sister” to me; whether the topic is about girlfriends or legislation, she is always there for advice. Amanda has always been there for us with a hug and an encouraging word when we were down, and she always had a joke when we are up. I remember SG Sen. Alex Garcia saying just the other day: “This place sure won’t be any fun without Amanda laughing all the time.”

The truth is, Amanda Stringer has been a lot of things to a lot of people at this place, and no matter whom you ask, she’s been great in every role. We will miss Amanda greatly this year, and I know that anyone who was lucky enough to work with Amanda now and is involved next year will miss her even more.

So come by this week and drop her a note of just how much this special lady has meant to you and your group over the past few years. I know she will really appreciate it.

Tyler Montell is the UK Student Government Senate President. E-mail [email protected].