Grote, Peterson win general election

Students Association Senator Nicholas Grote will serve as the student body president for the 2023-2024 academic year at South Dakota State University after a general election victory last week.

Grote, a business economics major and senator representing the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences ran with Trinity Peterson as his vice presidential pick. Peterson, a sophomore studying agriculture education and political science, serves as an SA senator for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

The final vote count was 1213 to 783. The opposition candidates for president and vice president were junior human biology major and SA Senator Hunter Eide and his running mate, ag business and business economics major Carter Howell.

Peterson initially campaigned with

Eide as his vice presidential pick. The pair withdrew from the running Feb. 8 and re-entered the race with new running mates.

Grote and Peterson’s campaign focused heavily on Grote’s electric scooter initiative. Grote led the initiative with a proposal outlining how e-scooters will be used, possible concerns and operating costs. Now, Grote will work directly with university administration to make his e-Scooter project a reality.

“Nick is 100% in whatever he decides to do, and I’ve already seen how much he cares about making a difference in students’ lives,” Peterson said.

The campaign also focused on Peterson’s student scoreboard bill. In the Senate, Peterson initiated talks about ADA accessibility in the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, where students must stand up and turn around to check the score during games.

Grote and Peterson also credited their win to Jake Ayers from the BluePrint Design and Print Center.

“Jake killed it!” Peterson said. “We gave him some ideas for posters and banners, and he took them and ran with them.”

Grote and Peterson will be sworn into their positions Monday, closing the chapter on a campaign season that wasn’t easy for the candidates.

“Running against a friend is never easy, and it was difficult to see people saying not-so-great things about Nick and Hunter alike,” Peterson said. “I think this experience helped us all to learn that our value is not always determined based on others’ opinions of us.”

Grote’s reminder to students: “Every student is a member of the Students’ Association. If you want to see something done, use your voice.”