Students are launching their Student Government Association campaigns for the Senate, and current members are preparing for the fall semester as SGA elections start Sept. 4.
Sophomore class representative candidate Cherish Brown, a nursing major, said, “My plans for UCA this fall are to bring better opportunities to students and show them that campus involvement can be fun but also beneficial.”
Brown said SGA’s significance to the UCA community is to ensure student success.
“They need someone to push and show that they believe in them. I want to be a part of SGA because they represent what I believe in,” Brown said.
Sophomore film major Madeline Welborn is also running for class representative.
“I was inspired to run for a position on SGA by Heaven Block, who is currently serving as the senior class president,” Welborn said. “Heaven is one of my closest friends and such a huge role model to me. I have seen her thrive throughout being a part of SGA, and she encouraged me to apply this semester. I was also inspired to run because I want to grow and challenge myself to be more vocal in my opinions and involved on my campus.”
Welborn said she intends to make every student on campus feel “heard, included and connected.”
Sophomore President Ryan Webb, a political science and public administration double major, said once your application is accepted, you can make approved flyers or campaign on campus by meeting with potential voters.
“Nothing beats retail politics. Go places and meet with voters face to face,” Webb said. “As cool as flyers may be, it doesn’t beat face-to-face action.”
Webb, who was on student council from the eighth grade to his senior year at Quest Academy in Little Rock, said he learned the positive impact student government can have when it works “competently and cooperatively.”
He wanted to take his high school lessons and translate them into a college political career.
“College student government association could do a whole lot more than high school because it was a more revered institution,” Webb said. “We’ve been seen seriously by the board of trustees and the university president. I didn’t understand how revered this institution would be until I was really able to become a part of it.”
His plans for the fall with SGA are to do more with less, specifically with budgeting.
“The key is to have an event that requires you to spend as little as possible and [charge] a decent price for admission,” Webb said. “We might’ve had a function using recycled materials and charged $5, and had 60 people come, which means we earned $300 for that function alone. It also takes a village to do those things.”
Voting on CubConnect ends Sept. 8, and SGA will announce the results that day at 4 p.m.
Applications closed Aug. 31, but students interested in SGA can apply on CubConnect next semester.
According to the SGA Constitution, all candidates running for office must have a GPA of at least 2.5 during the semester before the election and be enrolled in at least 12 hours throughout their term.
Elections are now live. The link to vote is https://uca.campuslabs.com/engage/submitter/election/start/605450.
Elections are open from 12 a.m. on Sept. 5 to 12 p.m. on Sept. 8.