Nic Porco’s conquest of the Vice-president Academic race is just the beginning of an extraordinary year, according to his predecessor.
"Nic is going to have a fantastic year," declared VP Academic Mark Hoekstra. "He’s had two years as a commissioner, he [has] a tremendous wealth of knowledge [and] he’s known and respected by the administration. He’s going to hit the ground running."
"I feel so good," said Porco when asked about his landslide victory of 2,320 votes to Bryndis Whitson’s 709. "I ran a very intense campaign and I’m extremely glad that the outcome was favourable. Many students approached me during the campaign and asked me about my platform and about myself, and I really appreciate that."
The road ahead for Porco is not free of obstacles since his commission still has two vacancies and the Student Academic Assembly is missing seven faculty reps. However, Porco and his existing commissioners remained optimistic.
"I realize there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of recruiting," he said. "It’s an obstacle I want to overcome."
Acclaimed Academic commissioner Michelle McCann agreed, stating Porco was a "solid choice for students" and outlined concrete strategies for filling the nine vacant positions on the comission and SAA. "Our intent is to have a strong commission and a productive year," she said.