The 2017-2018 BYUSA election winners, Dillon Ostlund and Katelyn Strobel, were announced Thursday night. They will serve as president and executive vice president of BYUSA for the upcoming school year.
“It just feels surreal right now,” the new executive vice president Strobel said. “I’m just excited to be able to share this experience with so many amazing people.”
Ostlund, who will serve as the BYUSA president, said he and Strobel are ready to get to work.
“We really believe the ‘BeYoU’ campaign we ran on this election is exactly what every single BYU student needs right now,” Ostlund said. “We want people to love their experience while here and we can’t wait to serve so many people by helping them be themselves.”
The director of Student Leadership at BYU, Nathan Ward, spoke to the crowd gathered in the Wilkinson Student Center minutes before the winners were announced. He said the quality of people who ran in this year’s election were some of the best he has ever seen.
“It’s been fantastic to watch these leaders work with their teams, and work together to campaign,” Ward said. “All this time they have kept a great attitude and have shown great sportsmanship to one another, which really exemplify what BYUSA is all about.”
Ostlund and Strobel won against Matt Youngberg and Alex Gosch by 268 votes, according to the BYUSA official election results. Over 5,700 students voted in the final election on Thursday.
Addie Hulme, the 2016-2017 BYUSA executive vice president, said the night was very sentimental for her and the current BYUSA president, Avery Harding.
“We were in this position a year ago, and we know what it feels like to have put in so much effort and time,” Hulme said.
Harding said serving BYU this year has meant a lot to her and Hulme.
“We gave our hearts this year and there definitely is a lot of emotion tonight because of that,” Harding said.
Both Hulme and Harding are excited to pass on their leadership positions to Ostlund and Strobel. The former leadership team said they can’t wait for Ostlund and Strobel to continue the diligent service they gave to BYU and to see how they can help students ‘BeYoU’.
