Lavonte Lucas/Courtbouillon
Jerra Gentry, a Houston theatre major, poses standing at  far left with other candidates before being elected Miss Freshman for the Class of 2022

NEW ORLEANS (Sept 27, 2018) – A Thibodaux English/theatre major was inducted as president of the Freshmen Class Council on Sept. 20, with a LaPlace mass communication major as vice president.

Lauren Rhodes received 66.2 percent of the vote to lead the class, and Shania Campbell polled 36.2 percent to become vice president.

The Class of 2022 Royal Court are Timothy McGary, a New Orleans biology major, as Mister Freshman and Jerra Gentry, a Houston theatre major, as Miss Freshman. They received 32.3 percent and 28.5 percent of the vote, respectively.

Freshmen Class Council elections were held online for the third year with 261 out of 384 students participating in voting, or 68 percent.

For at least two years, students have been elected with a plurality of the vote rather than a majority of 50 percent plus one, so runoffs have been eliminated.

Some 47 students sought a position.

Other winners include:

• Secretary: BriannaWyatt, a theatre major from Houston, 83.5 percent.
• Treasurer: Andrea Smith, a biology major from Vallejo, Calif., 62.7 percent.
• Parliamentarian: Brytanni Davis, a Houston theatre major, 58.8 percent.
• Class Justice: Jalen Pina, a political science major from New Britain, Conn., 58.5 percent.
• Director of public relations: Alyssah Darden, a New Orleans international business major, 91.9 percent.
• Senators: Lauren Petry and Noah Armstrong, 30 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively.
  Petry is a biology major from Biloxi, Miss., and Armstrong is a Dallas criminal justice major.
• Chaplain: Shania Hill, a New Orleans theatre major, 40.8 percent.

New Orleans and Houston residents, along with theatre majors, are heavily represented among the winners.

The candidates were required to attend three informational sessions in late August.

They were required to have less than 30 credit hours and be free of student conduct issues.

Candidates were required to get fliers and campaigning events approved.

Following nominations, students were required to complete a declaration of candidacy form and had to complete a candidate information form.

Some of the hurdles students faced were not knowing how to campaign, what their niche was on campus or how to reach different audiences outside of just their friend groups.

Different sessions were available to help students: Campaigning 101 session and how to use Bleu Connect.