The Elm Student Newspaper
SGA dedicates new office space to Taylor, Mahoney in ceremony
Eliot Caroom
SGA president Jillian "Keeza" Matundan
spoke at the dedication.
Ryan Murray, Elm photographer
This past Tuesday, February 13, the Student Government Association opened its new office, located in the Campus Center, in a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The new office was dedicated to recent SGA president Katherine Mahoney who graduated with the class of 2000. The new conference room bears the name of former SGA vice-president Jonathan Taylor who succumbed to cancer in 1998 during his senior year at the college.Attending the occasion were most of the SGA senators and board. "We've been temporarily displaced from our home, and now we can finally come back," said SGA president Jillian Matundan.
Also speaking at the ceremony were Dean Maureen McIntire and President John Toll, along with SGA office manager Mary Kathleen Bennett.
The speakers emphasized both the positive results of the accidental fire earlier this academic year and the worthiness of naming the offices after Mahoney and Taylor. "When Kate was in office, we eradicated debt all over the place," Matundan declared, to laughter.
McIntire explained how she considered the fire in some ways to have been beneficial. "I wish I could tell you how many people have asked me if I set that fire," McIntire joked.
"Instead of just reconstructing what was here before, we put a lot of imagination into what was best for WC at this time," said Toll.
He went on to praise former SGA vice-president Taylor.
"Jonathan Taylor was someone I got to know well because he was always full of ideas," Toll recalled.
Toll described him as "just a delight to work with. We want members of the WC community to remember him. He was amazing. I feel honored to be part of this ceremony honoring [Taylor and Mahoney]."
McIntire recalled Taylor's last visit to the college, and a conversation she had with him. "He took me to task over the fact that this hasn't happened and that hasn't happened," she said. "When you have a passion for something, it will sustain you through a lot. I would say to all of you, whatever the passion is, go for it."
Concluding her remarks, McIntire said, "I think this is an honor that goes to all of you. We're blessed here with a variety of campus leaders.
I'm proud of you all and very excited about it."Former SGA president Mahoney was modest in her acceptance of the dedication: "It's students that voted for me; I was a direct representative of the student body. I had the opportunity to be a frontman for a tremendous SGA."
Mahoney went on to talk about the honor she received. "I feel like it's something that's usually reserved for elderly people or wealthy people," she said. "Even though WC will eventually get something comparable to fifty guineas from me, it's very weird."
She added, "I'm truly honored and it is cool to see my name on something, but I do think it's an office for students, run by students. It's about the student body, not an individual student."
About Taylor, Mahoney said, "He was a colleague of mine, but he was a friend. He pushed through any struggle he had and he achieved greatness."
Mahoney further explained, "What a lot of people here don't know is that Jon and I both had cancer when we were young, The first Elm article I saw that struck me was an interview with him about that. He's not with us anymore, but his memory is.
"It is more of an honor to share this night with him than to be simply awarded a room. This office being awarded in our names proves we did share common ideals, and I'm proud of that."
Taylor's parents also attended the ceremony and accepted the dedication along with Taylor's girlfriend Sarah Jarrell.
"I'm overwhelmed - I'm beyond gratitude," said Taylor's father Jonathan Taylor Sr. "Three years have passed. Classes have graduated.
To hear about this is just amazing. You wouldn't expect this because the people who knew him are gone To come back here three and a half years later and see all this has happened means he is being remembered. I know he's impressed. He's laughing."Taylor Sr. also added that it confirms his hope that his son will be remembered. "What's good to have happen are things like this that are reassuring and reaffirming."
All the speakers who knew Taylor Jr. described his positive effect on their lives and his example of passion for life.
Taylor Sr. explained that his son received his diagnosis of cancer shortly after receiving his acceptance letter to WC. He began chemotherapy the summer before his freshman year. At that point, his son changed. "What's more important than anything else is he didn't get selfish or demanding," said Taylor Sr. "He set his priorities on a high place. He knew there was a chance he only had a few years. And he reordered his priorities. Reorder your priorities without having a life crisis to do it."
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