As a new school year begins, students and the Student Government Association hit the ground running on the Oklahoma City University campus. The SGA leaders are wasting no time gaining positive momentum.
The SGA of OCU held its annual retreat on Aug. 26 and invited the student body to attend to hear their ideas for this upcoming 2024-2025 school year.
Furthermore, The SGA retreat is an essential aspect of the organization’s gathering together to familiarize itself with each other. Vice-President Fares Maarouf details the importance of the 2024-25 retreat, “The main goal of this year’s retreat was to introduce everybody to each other and get them comfortable with the SGA process.”
This is an outstanding introduction for new SGA Senators, Executive members, and Associate Justices to get to know each other and become comfortable with how senate meetings for SGA will work.
Vice President Maarouf wants his senators to learn the ins and outs of SGA and to be present in the experience of being a member of student government.
“I want my senators and everyone else to enjoy themselves. This retreat is meant to allow our members to have fun, eat, laugh, and simply enjoy themselves.”
During the retreat, many ideas and critical concerns were discussed regarding safety and security efforts on campus.
The group expressed worry about the lack of lighting and security cameras on the OCU campus, the limited police officers patrolling the campus, the need to fix the blue emergency towers, and the need to update unsafe gym equipment in Aduddell.
The retreat also demonstrated how to write pieces of legislation to help the senators get a feel for the process when they are ready to submit their first official piece of legislation.
Second-year Senator Katelynn Murphy reflected on how the SGA retreat for this year effectively covered terms of protocol for the mechanics of writing bills. “This year’s SGA Retreat was well organized, welcoming new and returning members. It was a fun and interactive experience that allowed us to brainstorm new ideas for legislation.” Said Murphy.
Senator Murphy also expressed her excitement for the possible initiatives she wants to tackle for the 2024-2025 school year– “I’m looking forward to advocating for continued safety improvements on campus.”
The mission of the 2024-2025 SGA Retreat was to familiarize ourselves with each other and with creating pieces of legislation, hear the concerns of the student body, and simply have fun! The Student Government Association currently has senate position openings for the 2024-2025 school year.
Anyone interested in joining can contact Vice-President Fares Maarouf at fnmaarouf@my.okcu.edu.
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