FGCU’s Student Government has a new President and Vice President-elect and the pair have big plans for the coming year. Juniors Alyssa Fleischer and Gracie Dougherty received a combined 787 votes during this month’s election and as they begin their transition into office, they’ve already started setting goals.
“We want to make Student Government more approachable, more aware and more engaging,” Fleischer said. “The way all three of those things happen is by building relationships with students, making a point of being there and experiencing what it’s like to be on campus in different communities.”
Fleischer is a Legal Studies major, and she served as the Vice President for Student Government this year alongside President Jacob Goldman. She spoke highly of Goldman, who she credits with leading 15,000 students through a pandemic, something which she called a legacy in itself.
“He has taught me so much about what leadership is and how to be resilient in situations that aren’t always what you planned for,” she said. “There were so many times that I would get frustrated or confused or stressed and he always had a clear, level head.”
Goldman said that Fleischer has been with him from the start and that he’s watched her blossom this past year. He said that she’s done a phenomenal job at handling the responsibilities of the vice president and prioritizing the needs of the students.
“I think she’s going to be a president for the students,” he said. “She was already so strong, and she’s just proven to be a powerful force. I think that she’s really what FGCU needs right now.”
Gracie Dougherty, a communications major, is the Vice President-elect, and she has served as a senator, the Deputy Chief of Staff, and the University Relations Chair in Student Government before running alongside Fleischer. Dougherty said that she believes that Student Government is meant to support and represent the student body and that Alyssa Fleischer is the leader to make that happen.
“I think of Alyssa as someone who truly loves what she’s doing,” said Dougherty. “She loves the people; she loves the campus community, and that love has been able to make her a really strong and passionate and hardworking leader; someone who just knows that things need to be done and wants to figure out how to get them done as soon as she can.”
Goldman said that both Gracie and Alyssa are very authentic people, and he thinks that that alone will have a major impact on how students perceive Student Government.
“Gracie is going to be, in all honesty, a better vice president than I currently am,” Fleischer said. “She is organized, she is extremely kind. She knows how to command a room and she’s very good at empowering others. She’s going to do a wonderful job.”
Fleischer and Dougherty are both excited for the year to come, and getting ready to hit the ground running.
“We’re definitely hopeful, we have a lot of ideas,” Dougherty said. “I’ve seen Alyssa work throughout the past year as the current vice president and I know that she will be a great person to lead the student body and student government towards just bettering FGCU as a whole. And I’m really excited to work alongside her and support her as best as I can.”