Three students aim to start the party in the Student Government Association without the help of a party to back them during election season.

Claire Schroeder, Cassie Kamper and Hillyer Jennings are running in this week’s SGA election as independents.

Schroeder, a first-year student from Savannah, is running for senator of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She wants to improve student advisement and promote student involvement in SGA. She worked with the Academic Affairs committee last semester.

“I was discouraged because I’m not ‘on the inside’ with the S.O.S. party,” said Schroeder.

“I want to work on the SGA reputation because so many students don’t know what SGA does,” she said.

Kamper, a freshman from Stockbridge, also is running for senator of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She doesn’t agree with running with a party.

“I and many students haven’t heard what SGA is doing for the student body,” said Kamper. “I want to help with voter apathy and the lack of student involvement.”

Kamper, who previously was not involved in SGA, decided to run for the election when she received the campus-wide e-mail mentioning a candidacy interest session. She plans to promote herself with buttons, hats and signs.

“I have to work harder to get my name out, by drawing attention and talking to people on campus,” she said.

Jennings, a sophomore student from LaGrange, decided to continue running for senator of the Terry College of Business after his running mates Bennett Maddox and Tucker Burge dropped out of the race.

Although Jennings hasn’t worked with SGA before, he plans to continue the platform Maddox and Burge began.

“There are three Terry seats available and three candidates running for Terry, so I wasn’t going to campaign,” he said.

SGA is hosting a “Rock the Vote” campaign from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today and Thursday in Tate Plaza. Local musicians Atticus Hicks and Allison Weiss will play.

“On a good year, only 18 percent of the student body votes,” said SGA Freshman Board President David Edenfield. “And that’s a good year. We just want students to get online and vote.”

Students can vote on OASIS today through Friday.