Good morning! My name is Kitrina Miller and I am the Student Body President here at WSU. I am very thankful for the opportunity to talk with you all about the work of the 62nd Session of the Student Government Association. This year, there are three main goals, those being expanding Student Services, Rebranding SGA, and improving the Student Fees process.
One thing that I have become extremely passionate about is the development of a Student Support Services building on campus. With the construction of the Woosley Hall, the new business building, Clinton Hall will become vacant and a great space for Student Support Services. Discussions are beginning to take formation with Administration, and we will hopefully be able to begin collecting data from students about their thoughts of this initiative soon. Some of the other initiatives we hope to accomplish with Student Services are supporting students in using their preferred name on Banner, creating a community garden, and working with Counseling and Prevention Services to ensure students have access to after-hours care.
Internally, we have taken an interest in figuring out why we do things the way we do. This means we’ve been assessing our processes and improving these said processes. For instance, we are redefining the relationship between the Executive branch and Legislative branch and we created the Rules and Administration Committee to help the flow and quality of legislation brought to the Senate. One thing I have witnessed throughout my experience with SGA is that not many students are aware of the resources we offer or even what SGA is and can do for them. Reaching more students and increasing their awareness of SGA helps every member of the Association do their job better by ensuring the students of WSU are being represented accurately. To provide accurate representation, we have been hosting more events inviting students to the office and to interact with their Senators, along with tabling, increasing our presence on social media, and attending events hosted by other organizations.
With Student Fees, SGA is responsible for facilitating the allocation of around 10 million dollars during the spring semester of each year. We are currently having discussions as to increasing the efficiency of this process and equitably allocate to more of our student organizations. In previous years, training for members of the Student Fees Committee began about two weeks prior to the hearings; we are now going to begin these trainings during fall semester. By starting these trainings earlier, the committee members will be better prepared for the hearings and the Student Fees process.
To help accomplish these goals, I have been developing relationships with Administration across campus, members of the Kansas Board of Regents and the other Student Body Presidents across the state of Kansas. I have appreciated the feedback, willingness to listen, and the support provided by everyone during these meetings. I am truly excited to look back and see all the work accomplished by the 62nd Session. The opportunities we have this session to make campus a better place are endless and I hope that these opportunities create a better future for all Shockers. Thank you.