This year’s events director candidates are both enthusiastic about ensuring that Yalies have a good time next year. Although we are impressed by the energy of Marissa Pettit ’14, Bryan Epps ’14 is the candidate with the experience to translate his ideas into reality.

Current events director Katie Donley ’13 set the bar high. She built on the role of planning annual events like Spring Fling and Mr. Yale by adding a number of low-cost diversions, including the hit “What Would You Do for a Wenzel?” competition. Pettit and Epps have proposed similar platforms that build on the mix of events Donley organized. We applaud that goal.

But the role of events director requires more than just enthusiasm and good ideas. With the primary responsibility of overseeing events like Spring Fling, the job demands logistical efficiency and practical know-how. While neither candidate has previously served on the Spring Fling Committee, Epps’ experience planning events for the entire student body as a member of the YCC events committee makes him best equipped to handle the challenges of organizing events of this magnitude.

Pettit is no inexperienced candidate; she boasts an impressive track record organizing events like Trolley Night as co-chair of the Calhoun Social Activities Committee and as a representative on the Sophomore Class Council. Nonetheless, events director is a job for which prior experience in YCC event planning is crucial. Only Epps can offer that.

Epps’ platform would expand the current role of events director beyond its traditional scale. Both candidates emphasize the importance of campus-wide events in reducing students’ stress levels, but Epps, a current member of the YCC mental health committee, goes a step further. His plans to build on the YCC’s previous work with a new mental health week show that the job can encompass events that are more than just fun.

With the responsibility of executing high-profile, annual events like Spring Fling, the role of YCC events director already carries with it a defined set of duties. What we need next year is an events director with the ideas and expertise to expand on that tradition, and we believe Bryan Epps can be that leader.