MOORHEAD – On Thursday, Sept. 5, the Student Government Association (SGA) held its first meeting of the 2024-25 session. Newly elected SGA President Grace Halvorson and Chief of Staff Jacob Schoenborn discussed SGA’s agenda for the upcoming year.
“When Daniel and I ran, something that we really wanted to focus on was making sure that SGA was working to create very tangible change on campus,” Halverson said.
Throughout the meeting, “tangible” was a recurring theme for Halverson. She frequently stated that SGA aims to build confidence in results that will be visible to the student body by the end of the year.
Halvorson said she wants to create change on campus in ways that directly impact students’ lives. One such way is additions to the fitness balcony in Olson Forum.
This year, students can expect new equipment provided by SGA. In addition, Halvorson and Schoenborn were glad to meet many of the objectives in the works.
They referenced an extensive list, including updating the Fishbowl, partnering with 4 Luv of Dogs to have dogs on campus, and adding basic finance classes, which would allow business students to assist their peers in financial endeavors.
With the upcoming election, Halverson encourages discourse on campus with campaigns like Get Out The Vote, a push to get more students voting this election cycle.
SGA is still hiring a sophomore representative, junior representative and off-campus representative and is searching for three more members.
All positions will have the opportunity to have their voices heard by the Faculty Senate and a chance to make progress on campus.
Halvorson said one goal she and Daniel Davies, vice president, have had since they were campaigning is to make sure that every Senate member has one project that they are committed to working on.
Schoenborn poised the same idea, stating the senators should receive their assignments the following day. During the meeting, senators spent time discussing all the different ways they were considering making their mark on campus this year.
The ideas spanned from expanding breaks to include non-Christian holidays, like Eid or days for Ramadan, to various sustainability initiatives around campus.
They also were hopeful of having more student involvement in SGA. Ideas are always welcome at their meetings, which can be found on their Instagram, and no prior experience is needed.
“It’s okay if they don’t know what the process looks like. If they have an idea, they can just show up to a meeting and talk about it,” Schoenborn said.
Schoenborn and Halvorson agreed that if additional support was desired to bring matters to SGA’s attention, it could be provided if a student simply showed up a bit ahead of time for a meeting. If a concern comes from a member of a student organization or can be addressed by one, it is also beneficial to seek out the SGA representative for that branch of campus, the class representative, or any of the members of the executive team.
