Do you ever wonder where those pesky student fees go? Every student gets charged for them, even if you don’t live on campus. Or how about when you see things going on around the campus and wondering why you never even heard about them? Things like Alcohol Awareness Week, costume parties, or even homecoming for that matter. Well, all of these are put on and run by the student senate.
Student Senate is a group on campus that hosts many events to keep students involved whether you live on or off-campus. They strive to make sure that every student is able to get involved and have the college experience that everyone can enjoy. This club is comprised of a group of students with the head of student body serving as President. This year there are two presidents who are referred to as co-presidents. They dictate how the money that the group receives is allocated in their meetings. This group is headed by Katy Larson for the staff faculty members. One of this years co-presidents, Jada Duis, was able to sit down and discuss with me some of the points of emphasis and other things students can do with student senate.
“As a higher up in the meetings, we discuss what events are coming up,” said Duis, “So right now we are planning college alcohol awareness week, and we are planning everything for homecoming. We are also trying to do a lot of community events. We try to pass that along to our other members and we depend on them to basically fill the events and get the word out.”
Duis also discussed how students who are currently not involved with the group can get involved. She discussed that it is easy, but it does take some commitment to be there and making an effort is important for the group.
“We have weekly meetings at seven in the morning,” said Duis, “We take anyone who wants to volunteer their time. We do have some scholarships, but right now they are given to our current members. But if someone does decide to drop out of the program we will reassign scholarship positions. But right now we are looking for volunteers, and if you want to get involved next year we have a short application process on our website under student senate. Then you will have a short interview next year.”
Another member of the student senate is Brooklyn Erickson. Brooklyn lives off-campus and decided to join for that reason specifically. She felt that she wanted to meet more people that were not only in her classes but also other members of the student body.
“As a member of the group, we all get assigned different parts of events,” said Erickson, “So for alcohol awareness week I got assigned to find an obstacle course that we could use for our drunk goggles simulation course. We basically have to make the communication, find the stuff we need and plan.”
Brooklyn also explained to me why she joined student senate and why it is important to her. She also discussed being important for other students.
“It’s basically just getting involved with the school,” said Erickson, “Helping people out and making fun events for students at the school. I wanted to join because I wanted to be another outlet for students who live off-campus as well.”
Co-President Jada Duis also discussed how important it is for all students to check their school emails.
“Right now the most effective tool we have is the mass emails,” said Duis, “Everyone has a school email so it should be really easy to get ahold of everyone that way. We will also be putting up posters at lunch. Right now we are trying to bridge this gap as best we can.”
Student Senate meets weekly on campus at seven in the morning and everyone who is a student is welcome. On Tuesday, the 22nd, they will be hosting a battleship competition at the wellness center with kayaks and the main basis is you will take water and dump it in the kayaks to sink them. Homecoming is also coming up at the end of the month from October 28th through November 4th.
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