SGA announced its candidates for student president, vice president and college senators last Friday. The rising seniors, who began campaigning at 12:01 a.m. on March 22, for the top two positions are: Paul Vitale and Brian Collins, Matthew Carroll and Sean Carver, Ricard Ruiz and Henry Watson, Joe Breslin and Steve Cronin and Abolhassan Sadighi and Gretchen “Molly” Barrett.

The Vitale and Collins ticket plans on distributing slips of paper with their website address, as well as going door to door and hanging up posters. “Door-to-door is the best way to meet every student, which I hope to do,” Vitale said.

Collins noted his anticipation. “I’m excited to get this campaign going,” he said. “I think it’ll be a good experience for everyone involved.”

Vice presidential candidate and accounting major Henry Watson said he feels confident about his chances to win the SGA election, along with his running mate, Ricardo Ruiz. They plan on influencing university students with t-shirts and lots of posters.

Another ticket, Matthew Carroll, finance major, and Sean Carver, mechanical engineering major, had other campaigning strategies: “[We will] rely mostly on posters, a website and word-of-mouth to get our message out to the voters.”

Vice presidential candidate Steve Cronin, biology major, running with Joe Breslin, communication major, said, “Joe and I are excited because all of the tickets are dedicated people who want to improve the Villanova community.”

Since it is almost statistically impossible for any one of the candidates to receive more than 50 percent of the vote, the election will most likely come down to a run-off between the top two tickets. Current SGA vice-president Tim McGovern said it will be an interesting race to watch.

A record number of students also expressed interest in running for SGA senate, including eight in the arts and sciences and 10 in commerce and finance. Ultimately, only two liberal arts students and three C & F students procured appropriate signatures, so they will all automatically become senators. They are: Anthony Albanese and Safeer Bhatti for liberal arts, Katie Lee, Edwin Xiao and Javier Rodriguez for C & F and Regina DeCristofaro for nursing. No students are running for positions as sciences or engineering senators.

All three C & F senators expressed their enthusiasm for the upcoming year. Sophomore Javier Rodriguez noted the upcoming work he will carry out with the other business senators: “I feel very confident that, as senators, we will combine our visions and ideas to work effectively and efficiently to improve the overall general well-being [of C & F].”

Sophomore Edwin Xiao said he hopes, “to make an immediate and noticeable impact.”

Other senators conveyed similar ideals. Anthony Albanese, freshman candidate for arts senator, said he hopes, “to enact change and commitment for all students in the college.”

Freshman Regina DeCristofaro knows she is new to the University, but is excited about being part of SGA senate. “I have many questions that need to be answered, but I am very excited about the upcoming challenge.”

The official election period is from April 5-6, and a possible run-off election will take place from April 19-20.