New Students Assoc. executives
Oct. elections bring high hopes for future of SA
Ross DeRosier
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: News
As a new semester approaches, Lakeland College's student body has gained a fresh voice. The results of the elections held Oct. 12, 13, and 14 ushered in four students to executive board positions of Student Association.
The four new executive board members are Sarina Wiesner (president), Christina Neumaier (vice president), Ben Bechle (secretary), and Pratikshya Bhandari (treasurer).
The role of the Student Association (SA) is to operate as the voice of the student body. Ideally, the SA acts as the medium that can address student concerns with people who can affect change on campus. According to Sandy Gibbons-Vollbrecht, dean of students, and SA advisor, "We try to have reps from many different areas to ask questions specific to [their] group… [they] come to meetings with insights from those populations."
"With the mountains of responsibilities and tasks Sandy and I have, this group can be a great conduit to getting at ground level issues," says Nate Dehne, vice president of student development.
Dehne added, "I'm not the advisor and don't plan to be their [SA's] advisor, but I'm excited for this association and look forward to attending meetings and being involved… they [SA] are a traditional legislative body. They are representatives carrying the voice of, for lack of better term, the citizens."
A couple of the notable student concerns SA has addressed in the past are the pet policy and convocation credit. "Eight years ago LC didn't allow pets. SA brought up the idea of allowing fish. They brought in Jim Bajczyk, director of residence life, to talk about it. He considered the idea and helped SA change the policy," says Gibbons-Vollbrecht, adding that SA was also able to get the convocation requirement lowered.
However, in recent semesters the voice of Lakeland's studentry has been a whisper at best.
The new executive board is made up of returning members who, according Gibbons-Vollbrecht, promise to be more engaged than in the past. "There is an ebb and flow…with all student organizations…last year SA was quiet," she says, "We now have a very dynamic set of leaders... who are motivated to do more."
The four new executive board members are Sarina Wiesner (president), Christina Neumaier (vice president), Ben Bechle (secretary), and Pratikshya Bhandari (treasurer).
The role of the Student Association (SA) is to operate as the voice of the student body. Ideally, the SA acts as the medium that can address student concerns with people who can affect change on campus. According to Sandy Gibbons-Vollbrecht, dean of students, and SA advisor, "We try to have reps from many different areas to ask questions specific to [their] group… [they] come to meetings with insights from those populations."
"With the mountains of responsibilities and tasks Sandy and I have, this group can be a great conduit to getting at ground level issues," says Nate Dehne, vice president of student development.
Dehne added, "I'm not the advisor and don't plan to be their [SA's] advisor, but I'm excited for this association and look forward to attending meetings and being involved… they [SA] are a traditional legislative body. They are representatives carrying the voice of, for lack of better term, the citizens."
A couple of the notable student concerns SA has addressed in the past are the pet policy and convocation credit. "Eight years ago LC didn't allow pets. SA brought up the idea of allowing fish. They brought in Jim Bajczyk, director of residence life, to talk about it. He considered the idea and helped SA change the policy," says Gibbons-Vollbrecht, adding that SA was also able to get the convocation requirement lowered.
However, in recent semesters the voice of Lakeland's studentry has been a whisper at best.
The new executive board is made up of returning members who, according Gibbons-Vollbrecht, promise to be more engaged than in the past. "There is an ebb and flow…with all student organizations…last year SA was quiet," she says, "We now have a very dynamic set of leaders... who are motivated to do more."
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