Last Week, Jonathan Prediana and Cory McCullough were elected to serve as the next president and vice president of UW-Platteville’s Student Senate, defeating Adam Hendryx and Brandon White by a vote of 582 to 471. Prediana and McCullough will succeed Eli Caywood and Cody Camacho who served as Student Senate president and vice president for the past year.

Photograph by Jodi Krautkramer


Jonathan Prediana, left, and Cory McCullough took over as Student Senate president and vice president April 19.

Predaina is a technology education major in his third year at UW-P. His hometown is Kenosha. McCollough is a junior English education major from Madison. Both have served on Student Senate for three semesters. The Exponent sat down with the newly elected student leaders to see what their plans are for the 2010-11 school year.

Why did you decide to form a ticket and run together?

Predaina: I couldn’t see running with anyone else.

McCollough: After I joined Senate, J.P. was one of the first people to introduce himself. We served together, he was a good senator and I respected him. When the time came, there no question about being his vice president. We have different personalities but we compliment each other and make a good, dynamic team.

What are your plans for your term?

Predaina: I don’t like to speculate too far in the future, and that’s why a big part of our campaign was focused on staying away from campaign promises. We just hope to get students talking and make involvement on campus a cool thing to do.

McCollough: A good sign for student involvement was the voting turnout of 14%, which doubled from last year.

Predaina: I like that 14% level of involvement, and we would like to keep that momentum going and achieve that level of student involvement throughout campus.

What are some examples of how Student Senate decisions have impacted campus?

Predaina: The repeal of the smoking ban, which we are working on now, definitely has an impact. Also, every year we approve SUFAC’s budget, and we have to ensure that the funds are being awarded in a neutral manner.

How did you get started in student governance?

Predaina: I started in the Residence Hall Association. It’s a smaller body, but it still follows parliamentary procedure and was a good place to get started. Eventually I moved to Senate because I wanted to help and affect more people.

McCollough: I stepped away from soccer and was talking to Caywood and Camacho during the election. Before Eli encouraged me to run, I knew a little bit about Senate, but that’s all it took was that initial conversation. Caywood and Camacho set a fairly high bar in the realm of presidential and vice presidential fashion.

Do you plan to follow in their footsteps?

McCollough: We definitely want to maintain that level of professionalism, and we think that the dress code is important.

Predaina: I think we will both wear at least a nice polo shirt everyday.

When was the last time you missed class for an illegitimate reason?

Predaina: This morning (the day after the election). I missed because I had to spend some time sleeping on what I was going to be doing for the next year after the last crazy 42 hours.

McCollough: I agree that it was a tiring campaign. The last time I missed was when it was 80 degrees out, I missed my two hour English class to go longboarding.

Where could you be found on a Friday night?

McCollough: Probably at my humble abode on Hickory Street. I live in a house there with five other people, so there is always a lot of people coming and going and lot happening.

Predaina: I’m pretty boring. I would probably be in my room, playing “Counterstrike” or something. I need to get back in the swing of killing virtual terrorists.