On April 1 and April 2, the West Texas A&M student body will go to vote for the president of their choice. The candidates, senior Biology major Edward Akiyemi and senior Engineering major Benton Allen, have to wait and see just who the student populace decides upon.

Whomever the student populace of WTAMU approves, they will be choosing an outstanding person either way. However, the challenge will be far from over for either one of these fine gentlemen.

Also included will be the vote to raise tuition and fees for the expansion of the advising department, among other things. As either individual or any of the helpful folks at student government can attest, it is with good cause and reason, especially when West Texas A&M is seeing a spiking student population of more than 8,000 students.

Whomever the student populace of WTAMU decides upon, they will be choosing an individual who will represent the student voice to the faculty and administration. Whoever we vote for, we’re choosing someone who can tackle issues – whether they are seen from a mile away or spring up suddenly.

Both gentlemen do have different goals and different methods to attaining those goals, but they do have concurrent visions. Those visions aim to make West Texas A&M University a close-knit community and a desired destination for prospective students.

Both gentlemen are excellent speakers as well. If you missed the student body president debate on March 25, you were indeed missing out. Akiyemi and Allen answered the questions presented to them well and could make this runoff election quite interesting.

For comedic sake, they even had ideas on how they could take care of a Velociraptor appearance on campus. Now, compared to popular culture, they aren’t quite human size with a height of nearly two feet, but it was charming to bring that situation to light, just in case WT had a Jurassic Park type scenario going on.

While The Prairie will not tell you whom to vote for, we are asking you to jump onto the WT website and simply cast your vote on April 1 and April 2. The saying that is always said about voting, is “if one doesn’t vote, then one shouldn’t complain”. In a democracy, that saying will always hold true.

Sometimes, we are so quick to cast opinions about political opinions and matters. But it’s very wise to let them be known to the representative. From a student senator to the student body president, listening to and analyzing opinions and thoughts from their peers helps them go a long way to deciding what is right for the student populace of WT.

After all, when we go to the voting sheet on the first two days of April, we are choosing our representative for the next year. We are choosing a leader who can be quick on his feet when things come up and become the bridge between the university and its students.

All in all, make your opinion and voice count on April Fool’s Day or the next day by casting a ballot.