This past week the Student Government Association (SGA) was dedicated to showcasing what they have been doing this past year and highlighting future plans for the upcoming year. Each day of the week was dedicated to a different theme and representatives were available on Tech Walkway, or in the Student Center depending on the weather, to discuss these plans with students.
Over the course of the week, SGA highlighted the issues of campus safety, academic affairs, mental wellness and school spirit. They also addressed campus services like the bus systems and the dining experience on campus.
Monday included a Campus Safety talk, which highlighted how SGA works with GTPD to ensure campus safety and allowed students to voice concerns and ask questions on the subject. On Tuesday, students were able to express gratitude to professors and teaching assistants who had been an exceptional resource in their learning. Wednesday promoted the campus inclusivity pledge with a photo booth that allowed student to take a picture with the pledge. The week concluded with SGA day on Thursday and a spirit day on Friday, where students were able to answer trivia questions on Tech Walkway to test their knowledge.
SGA day embodied the purpose of the entire week, which was to give the students a look at what SGA has been coordinating, how they plan to implement it, and to promote transparency. SGA member Kaili Lynn explains, “The idea is to make SGA more accessible to students and to their organizations. We know SGA is a bit confusing to anyone who isn’t involved, and we want students to feel free to ask questions.” SGA day highlights this idea by trying to explain the bureaucracy of the system to the students.
The transparency day also tried to directly answer questions students have and to give students a future avenue to further their understanding of SGA after the week is over.
Lynn explains further “We also want students to know who they can talk to and give them an opportunity to do so.” The hope is that after this week is over, students will be more involved in voicing their concerns directly to members of SGA.
In an attempt to connect directly with SGA members for future contact, students had the opportunity to get coffee and a donut with a UHR representative and talk with them about any concerns that they had.
Spirit day concluded the week by celebrating the exceptionality and diversity of the student body with Tech Trivia and giveaways.
Though the weather presented a challenge to their original plans, SGA was able to rearrange events to fulfill their agenda. In a society where communication between the governing body and the people is hard to facilitate, SGA is going out of their way in order to breach the gap between the student body and our student government by making direct contact with the student body and providing avenues for future concerns. The students who took advantage of this year’s SGA week will know what is going on around campus and will be able to voice their concerns in the future.