After a year of limited student life activity on the Central Methodist University campus, the new Student Government Association leadership is planning for a big year within the community. New president Caroline Weatherford and vice president Kylie VanGundy, who were elected to their roles in the spring, kicked off the year with the first SGA meeting on September 1 and are already hard at work preparing for big events.
Weatherford, a senior exercise science major from Shelbina, Mo., says she first became interested in SGA after being invited by friends, but she stayed to become more involved after learning exactly what the organization did.
“When they told me that a portion of my money [paid to the university] went to SGA, who then got to choose where that money went, that’s mostly what attracted me to the organization,” she said. “I felt like that was a really important thing to be able to do as a student, just to have a say in where that money goes.”
VanGundy, a senior psychology major from Wentzville, Mo., echoed Weatherford’s statement about the importance of playing a part in deciding what activities the student fees fund.
“If you have any ideas on campus, it’s really awesome to be able to vote on how those ideas come to fruition,” she said.
This year, many of the ideas SGA is considering revolve around jump-starting student life now that more students are being vaccinated and the campus is more opened up. Weatherford says the advice the pair received from CMU President Roger Drake was to “think big” when planning for the year.
“Our biggest focus is to make the year a big ‘COVID’s almost over’ party,” she said. “We really want to focus this year on getting students out and about, meeting people.”
“One of the things I’ve been thinking about is how the sophomores this year did not really get the college experience that you normally get in your freshman year,” added VanGundy. “Now that things are opening up and there’s a lot more freedom for campus activities and events, we’re really excited to be planning some cool stuff to give them that college experience.”
Among the events on the horizon for the officers are Family Weekend on September 18 and Homecoming Weekend at the end of October. But in the meantime, Weatherford and VanGundy want CMU students and organizations to know that SGA is always “here to help.”
“They always have the ability to come to us,” said VanGundy. “I feel like a lot of organizations know the name SGA, but they don’t realize they can come ask us for help with funds or planning.”
“We want to know what they have to say. We recognize that every bit of the money that we have to spend comes from each student, and we want to do something that’ll be for all students,” added Weatherford. “We want to be able to affect everyone and help every student, but in order to do that, we need to know what they want from us.”
With meetings at 7 p.m. every other Wednesday, students and organizations will have many opportunities throughout the year to have their voices heard in SGA. The next meeting is on September 15, taking place as always in the Inman Lecture Hall (Stedman 200). Anyone with questions is invited to contact the officers at sga@centralmethodist.edu.