On January 9, Slippery Rock student Denton Zeronas was appointed to serve a two-year term as a member of the Slippery Rock Borough Council. The appointment is in the wake of November’s general election that left the two-year term slot open for application.
Zeronas is also the first Slippery Rock student to have ever held a voting position on the Borough Council. Recently elected council member and SRU professor Dr. Itzi Metzli had hoped to see a student join the staff for the two-year term.
“I’ve always been interested in serving in local government. I had received a lot of encouragement from my friends and professors, so I figured that I would give it a shot,” Zeronas said.
Zeronas is a senior Secondary Education major who hopes to teach History at the high school level. Zeronas also hopes to coach in the future, wishing to positively influence his students beyond the classroom. It’s these aspirations that further highlight an individual who has always strived to help others in any way he can.
“I started out as a psychology major here at The Rock before switching to education. I decided that this would be the best way to help people and pursue my passion of coaching as well. Serving the people of Slippery Rock will hopefully be a great way to build on my future.”
Issues that Zeronas hopes to address include the Gateway Project, an initiative that will add more downtown parking but has been met with stark public opposition. Fellow new council members Gene Alison, Itzi Meztli, and Russ Karl also hope to cancel as much of the project as possible. Other areas of concern for Zeronas include reducing property taxes and encouraging more businesses to open up in vacant lots on Main Street.
“Anything we can do as a council, whether that be enacting policy or allocating funds, should be towards benefiting the community. Improving people’s daily lives is what I’m primarily concerned with.”
Following this two-year term, Zeronas will likely pursue holding positions in local government when he becomes a teacher, with the possibility of getting involved at the state level. He also hopes to see more student involvement and will advocate for possible internships through the borough system.
“It would be great to have students interns at the borough office in the future, possibly from the Information Technology program to help revamp our website. The more student engagement we have the better SRU students will be represented in the future.”
