The former editor-in-chief of AACC’s student newspaper won the election for Student Government Association president on Monday. 

Second-year communications student Zack Buster, 20, won by a narrow margin over first-year engineering student Rabiyatou Bah, 19. 

“I’m a little bit nervous, but it’s a good type of nervous,” Buster, who was editor of Campus Current from August 2022 to April 2023, said. “It’s, like, ‘Oh wow, like, I get the honor to do this.’”

Buster will replace third-year psychology student Abigail Billovits-Hayes, 21, who will graduate this month and transfer to Towson University in the fall. 

Second-year nursing student Vanessa Cardozo, 20, won vice president of campus activities and first-year marketing student Mya Williams will become vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion. 

No candidates ran for the positions of executive vice president, vice president of finance and vice president of public relations.

Buster said he will take a “three-pronged” approach during his presidency. 

First, he said he wants to encourage more students to become involved in clubs and campus events.

“Because we’re a two-year school,” Buster said, “people have a sort of mentality where they come to the school, they take their classes and they go home.”

Buster said he is looking into having” a pep rally-style event … a place where all of the organizations, all the departments and everything gathers together and it’s like this big, giant festival at the beginning of the semester to kind of round out Welcome Week.”

Second, Buster plans to build better communication between the SGA and the student body and improve the group’s effectiveness.

“That comes through … team-building activities,” Buster said.

“I think I’ve kind of proved myself a little bit on that [with] Campus Current as far as organizational leadership,” Buster said.

Finally, Buster said he wants to give students more of a voice in campus decisions.

“I want to make sure [students] know they have people who speak on their behalf to people who make decisions that affect them,” Buster said.

Bah called Buster “a very good opponent, [a] very good candidate. I think he definitely deserved his position.”

Bah added: “I’m just looking forward to at least working together next year,” possibly with her in a vice president position.