SGA Projects

 Spring is just around the corner, and it’s time for Concord to forget about the snow muck and look forward to sunny days and an active campus. The Student Government Association (SGA) has taken it upon themselves to kick off those fun activities for students and benefit the campus as well. The executive board members are committed and dedicated to enhance quality of student life of the “Campus Beautiful” and make college experience the best it can be through personal projects designed to improve the quality of student life and gets students actively involved in the betterment of the university.

Melinda Hatfield, Vice President of SGA, shares that her project, called “Color the Campus,” will allow organizations, sports teams, educational divisions, and campus offices to paint a mountain lion paw print on the road near the football stadium. “Some of us are doing projects that involve student involvement, while other projects deal with things like academics, student recruiting, and the like. We all picked projects based upon improving student life at Concord,” Hatfield says. “With my project, I want to accomplish a greater sense of community. I love Concord because of how tight-knit the campus community is, and I'm really hoping that Color the Campus will allow everyone to get together and have a really fun time while also showcasing their interests. It's a really creative way to show everything we have to offer at Concord!” Hatfield’s project will be scheduled for the week of April 27.

Christian Bell, Secretary of SGA, is working on a project to find ways to improve Concord’s Campus Recruitment and Retention strategies. “This includes coming up with new ways to try to get new students to attend Concord University, as well as continuing to find ways to keep our current students returning to Concord,” Bell explains.

He explains that each SGA project is fueled by a personal desire to improve campus life in numerous ways. Bell shares, “The other executives have projects ranging anywhere from Peer Mentoring to finding ways to bring the campus closer together. One of the goals of these projects is to come away from our terms in office each accomplishing something that will lead to the betterment of not only SGA, but also the University as a whole in one way or another.”

Bell would like continue to work with SGA, his committee, and the Admissions office even after his term as an SGA executive is over to make sure that “Concord is a better place when I graduate.”

Any students with suggestions to increase student retention and enrollment are welcome to approach him and share their ideas. Bell encourages Concord students to give a hand, “I might be the person heading this project, but without the people on my committee, the rest of the executive board, SGA, and the rest of Concord as a whole, this wouldn't even be possible. Every person on this campus has the potential to be positive impact on how the University recruits and retains its' students. It is a team effort.”

For Adam Rose, Faculty Senate of SGA, his project is a campus togetherness project, that called “Carnival CU,” named so “because it will end up being a lot like a carnival,” Rose explains. The project will allow for more positive interaction between all of the groups and students on campus, which will allow for individuals not affiliated with a campus organization to find out what they are all about, and for the organizations to gain more people. The tentative date for this project is April 7.

Getting more summer camps on Concord's campus is what Ronni Wood, Board of Governors Representative for SGA, is launching on campus this spring. Wood explains why she came up with this idea, saying “It started with the HSTA camp, and since then I've been in contact with the Governor’s Honors Academy and the West Virginia Sheriffs Youth Leadership Academy.”

Wood shares that her project will not only get more summer camps on campus, but also get more students to be curious about Concord and be interested in it. “My project will not be something that happens right away. By the time I get any new summer camps on board, the camps for this summer will already be set. The earliest we're likely to see new camps from my project will probably be the summer of 2016.”

Wood encourages students who know any more summer camps to email her woodr18@mycu.concord.edu, “I'm currently working mainly with people off campus, but some of these camps may need some student volunteers later on. In addition to that I'm still interested in talking to more camps.”

Many other SGA executives are also working tirelessly on their own projects, and although these projects are vast and different in approach, each one serves to better the university.