On March 28, The University of Central Florida 2012 Elections Committee announced Cortez Whatley and Rachel Brill as President and Vice President, respectively, for 2012-2013.
With a 57.5% majority vote, the victors were clear as the Whatley-Brill team won the historic election in which more students voted than ever before at UCF.
“It’s definitely you know because of all of the supporters that came out. It’s just a very humbling experience. We’re just very grateful for this opportunity,” said Whatley afterward on camera.
His running mate was equally as excited and more than ready to get down to the business of fulfilling the heavy order of their campaign promises.
“…just a plan of action, and you know we’re gonna accomplish everything and then some,” said Brill.
She went on to say, “Throughout the campaigns we took people’s visions on our boards and we just want to make sure that we incorporate that into what we want to do.”
At the pronouncement of the winners, which took place outside the Union on the soundstage beside Smoothie King, the crowd burst into raucous screams. People jumped. People laughed. People cried.
Whatley was even picked up and crowd surfed over the heads of his multitude of supporters as they screamed his name in excitement. It was deafening to hear the chorus of chants as “Cortez!” and “Rachel!”were intermittently and sometimes simultaneously yelled from one end of the crowd to the next.
Yet, along with the tears of triumph, there were also tears of discontent. The opposing campaign stood off to the side as an odd juxtaposition to the celebrations.
As Cortez-Rachel supporters lifted off into the air, King-Katz supporters seemed to go in the opposite direction. In fact, Presidential candidate Anthony King became so overcome with emotion that he sank to the ground and had to be comforted by his campaign supporters.
In an effort to offer additional solace and comfort, Whatley approached him and bent down to speak with him briefly before leaving King and his fans to heal together. That quiet moment in midst of loud fanfare represented both the zenith as well as the nadir of what these elections mean to the student body.
“It was a relief that I didn’t let anyone down. It was a huge relief,” said Whatley when asked what winning the election felt like, “I was honestly, at that point, just thinking how great it was
to have all our supporters there, how great it was to have all our friends there.”
So Close: University of Central Florida SGA Vice-Presidential candidate, Eric Katz, looks
off into the distance on March 28, 2012 after hearing the results of the historic SGA elections.
The opposing candidate, Cortez Whatley and his running mate, Rachel Brill, won the offices,
respectively, of SGA President and Vice-President for the 2012-2013 academic year with a
57.5% majority. More students voted in this election than at any time in the university’s history.
Photo by Tawanah Reeves.
