Norman and Thomas to lead Campus Y

Though they’ve only worked together for three weeks while campaigning, the Campus Y’s new co-presidents say they complement each other perfectly.

“My weaknesses match up with her strengths, so we’re a perfect match,” said Allison Norman, half of the Campus Y’s new presidential pairing.

The other half of the self-proclaimed “dream team” is Mackenzie Thomas. Both have been familiar faces in Campus Y, with Norman being involved for three years and Thomas for two.

“I started getting involved with Campus Y right after Carolina Kickoff and I just went from there,” Thomas said.

The pair chose each other as running mates three weeks ago and have been working on plans for their administration ever since.

“We ran unopposed so we didn’t have much of a campaign,” Norman said. “We spent that time discussing our ideas and planning for the next year.”

The duo has several goals for next year. They say they want to focus on helping students better understand what Campus Y is.

“We want to make sure that people know we aren’t a religious organization and we aren’t a gym,” Norman said. “We want to give the Campus Y a definite identity with students.”

In addition to giving their group an identity, both Norman and Thomas have a vision for the organization to become more involved with the community, both on and off campus.

Through continuing programs like the Three Cups of Tea discussions for students and faculty, they hope to bring the on-campus community together while hosting more public events to raise overall awareness of the group.

Elizabeth McCain, a current Campus Y co-president, said Norman and Thomas come from different backgrounds — but their differences will mesh well.

“Allison comes with more of a volunteering and community perspective, while Mackenzie has had more of an administrative background,” McCain said. “I’m excited to see what they can do with that kind of teamwork.”

Another goal of the new co-presidents is to make Campus Y a more economically diverse group.

“We want to get people from all kind of circumstances in the organization,” Norman said.

They hope to acquire that diversity through giving work-study students the opportunity to work at the Campus Y.

Even though they want to make changes to the group, Norman said its central message and purpose will stay the same.

“We are a group of people who come together under the curtain of social injustice to find ways to solve it,” Norman said. “We represent it in so many different ways, and that’s what’s great about Campus Y and the people in it.”

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