Want to Make a Difference on Campus? SGA Is a Place to Start

For many Centenary students, the Student Government Association (SGA) may be something they have heard about without really knowing what happens within it. SGA is responsible for representing students, addressing campus concerns, supporting student organizations and helping create changes across campus. As the new academic year begins, members of the executive board hope more students will understand what SGA does and see it as an opportunity to get involved.

Herman Pride, Vice President of Institutional Affairs, said students do not need previous student government experience to get involved. Pride joined SGA after coming to Centenary without experience in student government, but said he wanted an opportunity to work with other students and make an impact on campus.

“You don’t really have to have been involved in such a thing,” Pride said. “You really just need to have the dedication to make a change and to be able to collaborate with others.” Pride said one of his biggest goals is creating changes that will last beyond the students currently serving in SGA. He is also working to continue developing intramurals, which were brought back to Centenary through an SGA resolution last year, so that students can have more opportunities to participate in recreational activities.

For students who are interested in making changes but may not know where to begin, SGA provides a way to turn student concerns into action. Vice President of Finance Alivelu Morampudi said much of that work begins simply by talking to other students. After serving as a senator last year, Morampudi saw firsthand how SGA can use student feedback to make things happen.

“I love talking to people and getting to know what their concerns are and then actually seeing their concerns get fixed,” Morampudi said. As Vice President of Finance, she also works with funding requests that allow students and organizations to receive money for events, conferences, and other opportunities. Morampudi said she wants to make that process easier for students to understand and use.

SGA is not only about resolutions and meetings, however. Vice President of Campus Engagement Ella Bylsma said getting involved can also be a way for students to become more connected to the Centenary community. Her committee works with campus events, including Homecoming and Centenary Appreciation Week, as well as chartered student organizations.

Bylsma said students can get more out of their college experience when they actively participate in the campus community. “I think Centenary’s campus is really something that you get out of it, what you put into it,” Bylsma said. “I think I have way more fun when I put more into it, when I’m more involved, when I am excited about things that we have going on.” This year, she hopes to make events more engaging and bring together students from different areas of campus.

For students who may not know where to find information about SGA, Vice President of Publicity and Records Anna Hicks is working to make the organization more visible. Hicks is responsible for promoting SGA events, running its social media, and making information from meetings accessible to the student body.

Hicks said one of her main objectives is making sure students actually know what SGA is doing. “My biggest goal is definitely to make things more known,” Hicks said. “I really want to improve the way that we communicate our events and market our events.” She plans to focus on SGA’s social media and work with her committee to make it easier for students to find out about events, opportunities and ways to get involved.

Ultimately, SGA is designed to give students a voice in what happens at Centenary. Students do not have to know everything about student government, have previous leadership experience or already have a specific issue they want to change. They just have to be willing to get involved, listen to other students and contribute their ideas.

Pride encourages students to take that first step and not be afraid to challenge the way things are done.

“Be willing to step out of your comfort zone, to challenge things, because without challenge, you don’t get change,” Pride said. “You want to always leave something better than you found it.”