Vision. Equipping. Unity: Caz Crane's SBP Platform

The King’s College is an extraordinary place. I’ll never forget that awkward February weekend in 2009, when I visited New York City for the first time to check out this Christian, Liberal Arts college in the Empire State Building. Thinking that it was kind of strange for a college to offer such impressive scholarships to someone with such unimpressive SAT scores, I hesitantly stepped out of the elevator on the Lower Lobby and proceeded towards the admissions office. In hindsight, I see that attending that Inviso Weekend was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made; I realized that weekend that I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at this school, with these people, in this city. Now, it’s been three long and tough years since that Inviso Weekend and I still believe that The King’s College is an extraordinary place. Because I love King’s and think it’s such an extraordinary place, I’m not willing to just mope into my senior year, play soccer, hang out with friends and drift into my career. Instead, I want to unite the student body by equipping students and preserving and championing The King’s College vision. I believe that my experiences in the Athletics Department, Admissions, Student Development, the King’s Council and the House of Reagan have all equipped me to be a strong and influential advocate for the Student Body to the powers that be. So, I’ve decided to run for Student Body President.

Vision: Every community is marked by some sort of shared goal that distinguishes the community from its surroundings. At TKC, that goal is our vision. However, if we do not share that vision, it’s pointless. As this school both grows and struggles, it is going to be vital for the student body to be united behind our vision. Most of us came to King’s to attain an education that edifies the soul in the tradition of the Liberal Arts. We came to be a part of a community that would grow together as fellow believers in wisdom and stature towards God and man. We want to develop the good and godly man and woman who speak well in our city in the name of Christ and His Church. This vision is what sets us apart and is essential to what it means to be a Kingsian. If we aren't unified behind it, our efforts will be in vain. As someone who values our vision, I hope to bolster it as the Chair of the Council, to hold the 15th floor and the Admissions Office accountable to it, and to reinforce it among the student body regularly. Our vision is far too important to remain vague and distant. Preserving and pursuing our vision aren’t just necessary for the future of this institution, but are vital to a flourishing community today.

Equipping: Next year, we must also be willing to unify behind each other. Our debate team, our athletics teams, City Engagement, and The Tent are all excellent examples of students chasing our vision. As SBP, I would work with the Director of Communications to better promote and advertise for these groups, both at King’s and throughout the City. I also want to work with the Director of Orgs and the Director of Communications to equip students to start more groups and clubs and to financially enable them to be successful. Authentic and creative events are another way to create unity. I look forward to finding the best Director of Events that this student body has to offer and to working with him or her to provide new ways to bring students together, especially at the beginnings of each semester. The Directors of Events and Communications and I will also seek to equip individual students with the necessary resources to provide vibrant, unifying events to the student body on their own and throughout the year.

Unity: As the Student Body President, my main goal for next year will be unity. Having worked to maintain and encourage unity in my House, I would like to do the same for the student body at large. As most of us know, King’s has been feeling some major restraints due to the current economic conditions in the country. It would be naïve to think that the struggles we are facing are just going to disappear in the next year or so. Realistically, tuition is going to increase, new and controversial curricular ideas will be introduced, housing will continue to be a problem, our freshmen class will be obnoxiously large and we’re ALL going to have to make some sacrifices. We won’t want to put up with an over-crowded computer lab if we aren’t excited about the people around us and the goals that we all share. And we won’t be able to afford the division and hurt that can be caused by silly house rivalries and competitions taken too seriously. As the Chair of the Council, I will work with next year’s presidents at Summit, at Council meetings and as much as possible to foster stronger inter- house relationships. My hope is that unity between the presidents will create unity between exec teams, which will then breed unity between students. I believe that we can achieve unity at The King’s College through a shared commitment to our vision and to each other.

If you have any concerns or ideas that you would like to discuss in the next few weeks, or if you would like to get involved in unifying the student body, please email Jeremy Cerone at jeremy.cerone@tkc.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.

Caz Crane is a junior majoring in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and is the president of the House of Reagan.