SGA president, vice president look forward to new semester

The Student Government Association executive team is preparing for the last semester of their term.

SGA President Teagan McNary and Vice President Josh Anderson said they’re happy to be back and are ready to get things going. They’re looking forward to their senate dynamic as a whole.

“We have a very diverse group of people on our senate in terms of all things, especially ideas,” McNary said.

Senators have already been discussing different ideas for bills they want to bring forward. 

For example, Anderson said one senator had the idea to establish a veteran’s memorial on campus.

“I think that’s always a really good sign when you have senators that are eager right off the bat with ideas,” McNary said. “I think that we’re going to have a really good term.”

McNary said one thing she hopes to change in the upcoming semester is the perception students have of SGA.

“It’s not always noticeable things that we’re doing,” Anderson said. “We’re really looking forward to bringing back a positive outlet for students for what we do. We’re really here to benefit them.”

Anderson said the team’s focus thus far has been getting everything scheduled and planned. After that’s complete, they’ll work more on their three-pillar platform.

Plans for their first pillar, to increase student involvement, will center around a new program for first-year students.

“We knew right off the bat that we wouldn’t be able to plan it for this year, just because we wanted to involve so many different partnerships,”McNary said.

Anderson said they want to model the first-year program off of a 60-day challenge that other universities have implemented. The program would allow first-year students to have one-on-one experiences with different student organizations.

Their second pillar, improvement, is focused on building partnerships between USD and the Vermillion community.

One possibility is a city-wide cleanup project, McNary said.

“We’re really just trying to find something that’s a really good fit and fits with what we’re trying to do as an organization that would mirror that in the Vermillion community,”Anderson said.

The team’s third pillar, inclusiveness, is still in the planning process, but they’ve been working closely with the Center for Diversity & Community.

SGA meetings, which are open to all students, are held every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in room 216 of the Muenster
University Center.

“SGA is here to work for the students,” McNary said. “We just want to make sure that they know we are open to all ideas and any issues that they have. We just want them to feel comfortable coming to us.”