As you may or may not know, it's almost voting time for the Student Government Association Presidency at the University of Central Florida. We have a couple of candidates now, and thankfully they announced their candidacy on time. They could have violated the rules and announced it before the apparent date, but they would have been dropped from the ballot for breaking the rules (that option is open to only the favored candidates as we learned from last year). However, there are no lawsuits this time, so we are going into the election nice and smoothly.

But, I can't help but pause for a moment. There are students who are putting effort into the SGA Presidency, and for that, they deserve recognition for their willingness to contribute to the university.

And this is why I can't help but mourn for what they are going into: a position of both power and of hardship; a position in which the holder of the seat is constantly bombarded with sacrifice and strive; a position where friend and foe is no longer distinguishable; a position in which no poetic play of buzzwords can properly portray the plight of the presidency.

The hardships of the UCF SGA presidency was first made clear to many by the turbulent and fiscally conservative administration of Michael Kilbride. He endured an entire year of abuse and unwarranted attacks while trying to work around very important paperwork (which explains his well-deserved Disney vacation paid for by the grateful UCF student population - he needed to unwind ya know). Kilbride even took the time out of his busy schedule to handpick a $8,000 desk too.

Now, you see, Kilbride was our Ronald Reagan. He's the one who recent SGA presidents try to be compared with. Kilbride is the presidency itself. Now we have to ask ourselves: who else can match The Iron Desk's legacy?

When I first came in 2014, UCF SGA was under the leadership of Weston Bayes, who was annoyingly normal and didn't have the charm of corruption as well as the cronyism or shadiness in him, indicating that he wasn't really aspiring to be a career politician. Bayes seemed to have left a decent legacy.

Impeachment charges were filed against SGA President Melissa Westbrook as the first result from searching her name, which already tells me that this should be interesting. I couldn't find much on her, but it seems like although she wasn't really a shady closed-door kind of president (that is reserved only for SGA senate). It also seems that she had some very interesting economic theories on how to handle a budget deficit, by cutting entire programs and dramatically increasing the budget for others. But not much else can be found within KnightNews, the campus SGA watchdog media group.

Fast forward some semesters and we get the Zona administration. The election itself was quite a show. From the Zona camp, early on in the game, the opposition to Zona, Brian Zagrocki, was accused by UCF SGA Lobbying Coordinator Tyler Yeargain (yes, SGA seriously does have a bridge to lobbyists) of bribing voters with food. Of course, one has to wonder why was there a campaign event allowed to take place in a restaurant if, you know, that's where you might find things (like food, for example). Needless to say, talking about that ghost is pointless because Zagrocki lost. And what followed was perhaps the "Nixon administration of SGA" (if not comparable to the Walnut wood Warrior).

See, I'm happy that Zona got the chance to start a career in politics so early. Closed door meetings, pure corruption and financial misconduct (one has to wonder if Mr. Yeargain raised any issues with breaking the law during the Zona administration, or if he kept his mouth shut when it was convenient). Of course, I don't mean to put President Zona in a bad spotlight, and all the stress given to her by pro-transparency groups was taking a brutal toll on her. To mark off a career of commitment to UCF, Zona ended her term with a deal that would push out alumni-owned eateries like Wackadoos out of SU in favor of ones owned by her greatest allies and supporters.

SGA President Chris Clemente is the incumbent one, at the time of this article's publication. His election was also a bit shaky, with Mr. Yeargain once again filing complaints that Zona's opponent, Jacob Milich, broke election rules (in this article, he clarifies that he only cares about ELECTION rules, which is a reasonable response to his lack of voice in the Zona administration, not hypocritical in the slightest).

Unlike Zona, Clemente has proven himself to be a champion of SGA transparency, drifting away from the controversies (which were all fake by the way, trust me) of the past administration. I can't really systematically dismantle the Clemente administration just yet, as it is about to end, and then we'll have the full assessment right here.

But to conclude an exhausting throwback to some of the greatest SGA presidencies, I have to leave off with a warning for whoever wins this SGA election. Take good note of your predecessors and their accomplishments listed here. Appreciate their hard work and their powerful demonstration of the ethics, honesty, and transparency. Should you do that, the students will love you.

NOTE: This story is not supposed to endorse any candidate in particular; there's going to be that one guy that claims it, so I must add this disclaimer.