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As the 2026 academic year is underway, Anderson University’s newly elected Student Government Association (SGA) president and vice president are working behind the scenes to ensure that AU is regarded at a high value for those who visit our campus and choose to grow academically here. Andrew Myhal, a junior studying mechanical engineering with a minor in chemistry, serves as the SGA president with Dylan Stegemoller, also a junior, who studies psychology and exercise science, by his side as vice president.
These representatives serve as a voice for the student body, and allowing this opportunity for Myhal and Stegemoller to share their mission and the role of SGA at Anderson University increases the awareness and value of our student government. The role of SGA can be best supported by knowing what it is that students are supporting when they come to Myhal and Stegemoller. Students have agency in their own education and institutional decisions to an extent, and these student body leaders are here to listen and seek to make “the student experience better and make Anderson University a place where students want to go”, as Myhal stated. SGA was created to support and serve the success and desires of AU students and the institution, so what do our current president and vice president have to say about their role on campus?
Sophia Herbon: What encouraged you to step into this role?
Andrew Myhal: After being a DC [discipleship coordinator], being involved with student life on campus, I really enjoyed getting to make an impact on students. The next logical step was to take that into a more managerial role, which is what the SGA presidential role is. So I applied alongside Dylan who is a good friend. We converged, made a campaign together, and stepped into that role as soon as we could!
Dylan Stegemoller: Andrew needed a running mate, and I had multiple people ask me about it. I got into it and now I realize the responsibility behind being the face of the student body and talking with the students. I wanted to run because I care about the student body, I feel like I am super connected with it.
Sophia Herbon: How does your character and leadership vision set you apart?
Andrew Myhal: I am a very action-oriented person, I think the best asset I give to Anderson is relentless pursuit of the job at hand. Not taking “no” as a final answer is also something; relentless work, and persistence. My goal is entirely how can I make the student experience better and make Anderson University a place where students want to go. I see that as my primary responsibility; making this campus as good as it can possibly be.
Dylan Stegemoller: I’ve been told I can be a comfortable source for people to talk to, specifically one-on-one. I grew up as somebody who was to themselves and quieter, and I know what it’s like to feel left out and alone. I also have siblings, I have three sisters and a brother who talk to me about their experiences in the world. A variety of different experiences have been put on me, as well as being in twelve clubs in high school. Being around so many people, I feel comfortable talking with others. This ultimately helps with being student body vice president; connecting with students and getting their perspective on things.
Sophia Herbon: Talk about one thing you have enacted while in office that you are proud of.
Andrew Myhal: I am very excited to start getting the KWC hour roll outs. I am glad that we got that approved. I got trained to essentially sit in the office as a volunteer to allow the place to be open. So I am really excited for that to get cleared, but also so that I can bring tangible data to say “Yes, students are using these hours, it is a responsible allocation of resources to spend this time in that way”, and we’re looking at the 23rd as the first time we’re going to do that. What we ultimately want to do is create more student work opportunities to get spending cash into students pockets and give them more agency as to what happens on campus.
Dylan Stegemoller: Our objective for the first couple of months is organizing what past SGA’s have done. We are trying to make it as easy as possible for future SGA’s to follow in our footsteps. We are doing a lot more behind the scenes stuff right now so that we can organize ourselves so when our community is stronger, we can follow through and build out some other exciting things that we are going to see on campus. I’m excited because the next two years have a lot of good things in store.
Sophia Herbon: What do you have planned now that you think students would be excited about?
Andrew Myhal: I have four proposals that are not finished yet, but that I think students will really like. One of them is the My AU Merchandise Design Competition. I want students to have choices on what they see in the bookstore and I think one of those ways is by having them design their own merchandise. I’ve laid the framework that I need to get sent out to the proper authoritative positions, essentially allowing there to be a student design merchandise competition; they vote in chapel, we get that produced two weeks later and it’s in the bookstore for you to buy. The idea is that the profits we make off of that can roll into the next one and the next one. The idea is that eventually, the bookstore will be heavily student designed merchandise. Our students know the aesthetic preference of the student body and it allows it to be more culturally relevant and it also makes sure that we aren’t producing things that students won’t want to buy.
Another thing in preparation for launch is the RavenEdge Flight Path, which is an internship incubator design that will ultimately culminate in internship integration in curriculum for engineering and other departments who would like it. Allowing us to use our Madison county connections to delegate resources to match your resume and your history with an internship in the area that serves you well and serves that company well. So we take the Anderson edict of “A life of faith and service”, how can we bring service to Madison county? We bring service to Madison county by working within Madison county. So that internship funnels into direct community impact but also professional development.
Sophia Herbon: If your presidential/vice presidential career is successful, what would you see around campus?
Andrew Myhal: First of all, more students. If we can create this campus to be trending towards the markers that I have for it, our enrollment will increase, and also the quality of students that are enrolling will be someone who prioritizes their Christian faith, and also stands for excellence. One of the things on campus that is most influential is the proximity of land and how our buildings are set up; we should be able to interact with every student on campus within a week, that is a possibility. If my presidential term is successful, I will see students interacting in ways that they haven’t before.
Dylan Stegemoller: All the things that our campaign harped on; being community, and strong faith-based principles lived out on campus. If our campaign ends up fulfilling as much as I hope it does, it’ll be shown by the leadership of the following SGA’s and students. The best kind of leadership is the leadership that sets the principle for how it should be done in the future.
Sophia Herbon: What do you hope students learn to value at our institution through your leadership?
Andrew Myhal: There’s two ways to look at this. Any time you are in a leadership position you can either look at what you want to happen, and what realistically can happen. What I would want to happen is for students to regain the focus on a Christian liberal arts education where we value all of the disciplines to live more Christ-like lives in interaction with others. That’s the idea. I think a good target is to increase interdisciplinary excellence. So we have students who attend athletic events, but they are also engaged in arts events; we have students who are doing well in the classroom, but they’re also going to service events. A lot of the time we have students who have one-track minds. Trying to bridge those gaps and create interdisciplinary excellence is a reasonable target for our students. It’s really hard to cheer for somebody who is closed off from the rest of the student public. Let’s elevate students who are really well-engaged, really kind, really a key part of the community already, and then say “Hey, they play volleyball, they sing in choir, they play an instrument. I want to support this student because they’re already supportive in the community”.
Dylan Stegemoller: Our school has a vision of a faith based community, and I harp on those two things; faith, and and then community. Faith is the center point of our whole lives, it’s our metanarrative. We should base everything off of the truth that is the Bible. And then community, which is that we cannot go through life alone, it is through God that we have any purpose. We are created in His image so we have inherent purpose, but also we are called to disciple one another. And with this position of power, in terms of the community aspect, we encourage students who aren’t strong in their faith to attend campus which allows for a community of people who are strong in their faith and a community of non-believers to connect with each other. If everybody understands our mission clearly, then they are more open to hearing about it. I have always grown up in the church, but for somebody who comes from a different culture they may not understand that fully. I think one thing our school can approve upon is making our mission so clear. We go here to get a diploma and set things up for our career, but also while we’re here we have incentive to grow in our faith. That is why I live; I have a faith that is to serve Christ, and ultimately my career is going to fall under that too. If the campus is on a very clear mission, all of our faculty and students should understand that. Even those who don’t necessarily understand it, when they see the influence of those who are fulfilling things rightly, they hopefully will align with that because they want to not because they have to.