The Student Government Association has started the fall semester off on the right foot.
Adrianne Nicole Toles-Williams, club president, started the club’s first summer planning, to show preparedness for the busy semester.
The SGA does many things for the Falcon family, from planning the different events every year, to making decisions about forming new clubs.
One of the main event ideas in the works for later in the fall semester is hosting a music night, which would include the SGA reaching out to some local artists to perform on campus. Another event they are planning to host is a movie night on one of the other Daytona State campuses to allow students to connect with the rest of their Falcon community. Also, be on the lookout for the Humane Society fundraiser, and for any food and resource drives for our own Hope Center they may be planning. A voter awareness campaign will be chaired by Toles-Williams herself. This is important for candidates running for office within our districts. This campaign will be working on providing students with important information about local politics and encouraging us, not to only participate, but to do so with well-informed opinions.
Each SGA officer is eligible for a scholarship through Student Life for the number of credit hours they are enrolled in per semester. To qualify for these scholarships, they must compile portfolios to show all their work pertaining to the SGA and must log 5 office hours a week. The three pillars that the club was founded on are pride, leadership and service, these values can be found in all the work they do as a club. With these traits in mind, they also try to have a clear objective of instilling leadership, communication and advocacy skills within members and officers.
Toles-Williams is graduating after this fall and continuing to UCF. She encourages any who are interested in being more involved and wanting to make positive impacts on campus, to run for the position of her successor.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect and what the title itself would hold…but it’s great being able to be a positive example for people,” she continued, “I’m hoping that the next president shows the initiative to do stuff because SGA needs it to be done, not because they get told they need to do it. And I think that makes a really big difference in what kind of a leader a person is.”
Toles-Williams says time management is the hardest obstacle to overcome when starting a new semester, both as a student and as an officer of the SGA. “We have so many things that make up the ‘college life’ and it can sometimes be hard to stay on top of it all,” she says, “Do what inspires you and find something that inspires you in everything that you do. That is the best way to go through college…while making the most of it.”
Although she says she is sad to be leaving us, she is excited to see what is in store for the SGA’s future as well as her own. One thing she plans to do is fully move to a hybrid meeting model so that satellite student governments can be established on the other Daytona State campuses.
If you are interested in joining the SGA, they meet every Tuesday at 3pm in the Student Center, room 218. Well, now that you know more about all Student Government Association does and more about how they are growing, don’t forget to keep an eye out for their events and fundraisers this fall.
Abigail Romeo
Staff photographer