The Student Government Association (SGA) at Newman University has already begun setting goals, strategizing and planning for the new academic year.
The 2018-19 SGA executive committee consists of President Marisa-Nicole Zayat, Vice President Thao Nguyen, Secretary Adrienne Esposito and Treasurer Kyle Mazza.
SGA will try something new this year by meeting weekly instead of every other week, allowing for more discussion time amongst the group, in the hope of being more proactive on getting bills written and passed, Zayat said.
Zayat said amping up engagement opportunities with the student body is on the goal list this year.
“Something we discussed is open communication,” she explained. “To facilitate this, we’ll hold more events, such as Transport Tuesday, during which we’ll use a golf cart to get students around campus while asking them about issues important to them.”
Nguyen said engaging with the student body is one of the most important roles that SGA can focus on.
“We have a lot of events in mind and a lot of ways to develop the relationship between us and the student body,” said Nguyen. “I’m excited for the different events we can come up with and bringing students together through the events.”
Zayat said the first line of business for the year will be going over budget, spending and writing bills, educating the SGA senators on the inner-workings and going over responsibilities.
The executive committee already spent time before the school year meeting with university leadership.
Zayat explained, “Thao and I met with Jennifer Gantz (vice president for finance and administration), Vic Trilli (vice president for student affairs) and (Newman President) Dr. Carrocci. We also want to meet with (Provost) Kim Long and Norm Jones (vice president for enrollment management) as well. We wanted to introduce ourselves and start conversations with them before the school year started. I’m sure we’ll be working closely with them throughout the year, so it’s important that we establish the communication early.”
All four of the executive committee members shared a common feeling — excitement.
“We’re super excited to meet the new student body,” said Zayat. “They all have their own personalities and we are excited to assess their needs in order to make the school a place for everyone and to make Newman even better than it is now.”
