By VALERIE METREJEAN

Staff Writer

Kimberly Ludwig, a senior business management and entrepreneurship major, gave a final address to SGA members, and family, before turning over her title of president to Lindsay Mencacci, a senior biology major, at the Student Government Association's Induction Ceremony April 21.

"I would love to be able to stay, but it is time to leave," Ludwig said. With so much still going on, Ludwig said she has not yet set a time for her last day at the SGA office.

Over the past year, Ludwig has led the SGA in starting the Spirit of '88 Rewards Program, the 30-minute time zones in front of Tolliver Hall, the Dawg Pound section for basketball games and the future Student Achievement Center, to be built in the Wyly Tower Center of Learning.

Ludwig said she could not have accomplished it all without the help of Mencacci, who served as the 2004-2005 SGA vice president.

"It is almost like we had two presidents because Lindsay worked so hard," Ludwig said. "She already knows the duties of president, which means having realistic goals and knowing what can and cannot be done."

After working together on SGA for the past three years, Ludwig said she feels confident in passing the baton to the new president.

Who is Lindsay Marie Mencacci?

"I am pretty much a T-shirt and flip-flops kind of gal," Mencacci said. Her friends describe her as so much more than that.

Rory Steen, a graduate student of industrial organizational psychology, said Mencacci "really cares about the university, and people in general."

"She is so on top of things; you know those overachievers that make us slackers look bad, she's one of those," Steen said. He said that Mencacci is one of his best friends.

Mencacci skims a page log to-do list for her upcoming term.

"We are working on putting Tech Express machines in Maxie Lambright Intramural Center and other athletic facilities," Mencacci said.

She said the SGA is also working on a campus beautification project.

"Anyone from students to alumni can make donations and get a tree planted in their name," Mencacci said. She said the large oaks on campus are dying and need replacement. Money will also go to general cleanup around campus.

When Mencacci is not in the office, she can be found playing card games like poker and Phase 10, hanging out with friends and baby-sitting. "I like doing random things," Mencacci said.

Mencacci is a girl of the South, but found herself wanting to attend Tech at 12 after visiting a cousin who went to school here.

"I was walking around campus and I saw the bricks with the names on them and thought it was so cool," Mencacci said.

Mencacci said she plans to go to graduate school at St. Augustine University in Florida, to get her master's in occupational therapy and doctorate in physical therapy.

Although Mencacci may not return to her hometown of Erath, La., after finishing school, she said she plans to live in Louisiana her entire life.