K-State,
I hope you had a restful Fall Break! Only 10 more days of class, a few finals, and then we’ll have a real break! As many of your know, K-State Student Governing Association (SGA) is structured just like the Kansas state government or U.S. federal government: three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) work together — each with its own unique function — to serve the student body. This week, I want to briefly explain the function of the executive branch; many of the individuals who serve within it work largely behind the scenes but are deserving of credit!
Jake and I can’t do everything (shocking, I know), and that’s why we have individuals who are experts in various areas that serve on our Cabinet. For instance, Kaley Oldani serves as Student Director of Sustainability, and works with K-State’s professional Director of Sustainability, Ben Champion, to enhance our university’s green-related efforts and initiatives. Eric Haun and Matt Brill, State Relations Director and Local Relations Director, respectively, work with the state and local governments to advocate on behalf of our university and fight for funding and other beneficial policies. Theo Stavropoulos, Technology Coordinator, Mark Johnson, Safety Director, and Shai Washington, Director of Retention Strategies, each serve on numerous university committees relevant to their issue area and work hard to enhance the student experiences at K-State.
As we all know, K-State is a diverse place, with students coming from locations around the state, nation, and world. That’s why Zuleica Gerardo, Multicultural Affairs Director, and Tanmay Varma, International Affairs Director, serve on Cabinet as well, as liaisons to the communities they serve and as advisors to Jake and I on any and all issues that may affect them. Ethan Hawkins, SGA’s Residence Hall Liaison, works to reach another student population — the huge number of students who live in K-State’s awesome residence halls — and keeps Jake and I up to date on the happenings of the Association of Residence Halls (ARH).
Getting the word out about what SGA does is a huge task in and of itself, and Ava Clark, Public Relations Director, does an excellent job of maintaining the SGA blog (blogs.k-state.edu/sga), Twitter and FaceBook accounts. Hearing the concerns of the student body is our number one priority while in office, and Steph Hughes, Student Affairs Director, helps us to do that through her coordination of the InTouch program, which spreads the message of SGA to student organizations around campus. Finally, we’re lucky to have Chance Berndt, Executive Initiatives Director, and Abby Works, Chief of Staff, by our side everyday — they both work to support each and every project Jake and I launch as well as those of the rest of Cabinet. We couldn’t do it without the work of each and every member of the Executive Branch!
So there you have it — thirteen individuals in addition to Jake and I — who are working to improve the university we all love and call home. If any of those positions sound like something you’d be interested in, applications are accepted in March and April and can be found at www.ksu.edu/sga!
Happy December!
Eli Schooley
elis@ksu.edu