i
Looking to Next Year: The Newly
Elected SGA Representatives
Emery Lai, Staff Writer
Upcoming 2011-2012 SGA Presi
dent Jennifer Prince and SGA Vice
President Allison Meares were just
elected, but they already have great
ideas for the upcoming year. With
plans still falling in to place, Prince
and Meares have their work cut out
for them, but they feel confident
and excited for the upcoming year,
knowing their college leadership
experience will help them establish
themselves. In this interview. Prince
and Meares share their experience,
thoughts and plans regarding SGA.
What leadership skills have you
obtained over the years from
previous experiences?
Jennifer: I am relatively new to the
idea of leadership. I ran for Sen
ate and was elected as a freshman.
I served as a class senator for two
years. It was during those two years
that I really began to explore the
idea of leadership—looking at who
I was as a leader. I have served this
year as the SGA vice president and
senate chair. It has been my first ex
perience serving as an executive or
as a chair of an organization, and it’s
been very eye opening. It’s shown
me where my faults are and where
I need to improve while simultane
ously allowing me to discover my
strengths and focus on those abili
ties. Here I am now as upcoming
SGA president.
Allison: I was a member of a
statewide debate organization in
high school and during my senior
year I interned as a debate intern
chair. Coming into Meredith, I
wasn’t involved with SGA during
Try the
crossword
puzzle on
page 3!
freshman year, but I joined Senate my
sophomore year. Then this year I’ve
been both a senator and class of 2012
co-chair for service, leading up to my
recent run for vice president.
What plans do you have for the
upcoming year?
Jennifer: The upcoming executive
board has only met once since results
were announced, so we don’t have
many concrete plans yet. One of the
goals discussed in the meeting was
working to really put a personal touch
on SGA. Many students see SGA as
“this board of people that they’re not
really sure who sits on or does what,”
and we really want to be visibly active
on campus. We want to be personal.
We want students to come to us with
their ideas and concerns. We want to
know what they think. We represent
them, and we want to make sure that
we serve their best interests. Addi
tionally, we want to look at ways to
increase communication between all
members of the Meredith community
- students, faculty, staff and admin
istration - making sure all parties are
involved. Another great idea at came
out of our initial meeting was look
ing for a way to recognize student
leaders on campus who maintain
academic excellence. We have a lot of
student leaders who are keeping high
GPAs and are highly involved in their
classroom, and we want to recognize
them for being able to maintain both
their academic and their co-curricular
fields.
Allison: I would agree with all of
those goals, and also say that increas
ing leadership on campus is a big pri
ority. We are trying to get more people
involved in organizations.
Any additional thoughts you
have about SGA and your new
positions?
Allison: We’re really excited about
this upcoming year and the plans that
we have for the student body.
Jennifer: If anyone has any sugges
tions or ideas or concerns, go ahead
and let us know. We meet on a weekly
basis to address those concerns, and
if SGA isn’t the appropriate place to
handle those concerns, we can direct
them where they need to go. Even
though we are students and members
of the community, we don’t always ,
know the greatest community con
cerns. We need to be aware, so as
much as it’s our responsibility as SGA
to address concerns, it’s the student’s
image via Meares and Prince
responsibility to make those con
cerns known to SGA.
If you wish to get in touch with
SGA about a concern this semester,
you can send a message to Anna
Beavon Gravely who currently serves
as SGA president or you can email
Jennifer Prince with concerns for the
upcoming year. Both can be contact
ed at SGA@email.meredith.edu.
Want to be involved in SGA dur
ing the upcoming year? There are
still many open SGA executive board
positions! Apply through the Student
Leadership and Services office by
March i6th at 5.. The open positions
are as follows:
* SGA Treasurer and Student Ac
tivities Fee (S AF) Committee Chair
* RHA Chair
* Apartment Association Chair
* WINGS President
* Elections Board Chair
iN THIS ISSUE...
Stafe & Local: Pence Amendment, NASCAR Audiences, Democratic National Convention in 2012
Arts & Entertainment: Recommended Reading, Ask Gigi, St. Patrick’s Day
Campus Lije; Honor Society Inductions, Past Meets Present, Senior Year Reflections, LiF Friends Weekend
Opinion: Obsession with Engagement, Problems with Speaking Dumb