EvyJo Compton
Reporter
Parkland Student Government offers a specialized opportunity for those who serve in it, as well as for the students it looks over.
Those on the Student Government Association can voice their opinions, advocate for students, and help those students who are not on SGA while students come to SGA and voice concerns.
Evie Newman, the coordinator of Student Life and conduct officer, serves “as the advisor for Parkland Student Government” and is “currently working on the development of our new Leadership Academy; a program through workshops and experiences designed to build leadership skills in Parkland students.
“[I also] work with the team of Student Life & Wellness professionals in our office to create, plan, organize, and execute programs for the PC campus promoting social, educational, wellness, cultural, civic programs [and] oversee the Conduct Board Hearing process,” Newman said.
All students who meet the minimum 2.0 GPA requirement and are taking a minimum of eight credit hours of classes can be members of the SGA.
“We have students from all over the world as senators [and] we have students who grew up right here in Champaign and Urbana,” Newman said. “Our leaders are those who have a passion and a desire to serve others, gain leadership experience, and be part of this campus community.”
This year’s elections for Student Government will run from April 9 to April 11 in the Student Union.
“Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. [to] 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. [to] 7 p.m. in the Student Union and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon,” Newman said. “Student Government currently meets Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.. For the 2018-2019 year, Student Government will meet Thursdays at 2 p.m..”
Parkland Student Government is here for the students according to Newman. Students on SGA can advocate for students while the general student population can go to SGA when problems arise.
“Student Government is the voice for students,” Newman said. “They help advocate for the needs and wants of students. Students can suggest to SGA a grievance or concern and SGA will either help students to connect to the resource if it exists on campus, or will help to elevate the concern to administration.”
The SGA supports students in a variety of ways.
“The SGA Student Trustee is the voice of students to the Parkland College Board of Trustees,” Newman said. “SGA promotes leadership development. SGA oversees the Student Fee allocation to each student organization/club, Student Life programming, etc. Lastly, SGA promotes educational programming through their own execution of programs as well as funding programming.”
Some of the benefits of being in Parkland’s Student Government are that it teaches leadership skills and gives students valuable experience according to Newman.
“They can go in one meeting from planning to serve food for the Black History Month luncheon, to organizing a ‘Get to Know your Local Government’ event, to drafting a resolution to propose recommendations to the cafeteria, to allocating money for students to attend a leadership retreat,” Newman said. “They are strongly encouraged to participate in leadership opportunities like our new Peer Mediation and Conflict Resolution program ‘We Resolve’ or our Leadership Academy.”
Student Government is here for Parkland students in a variety of ways, but it works effectively because the SGA is made of students that are able to see everything going on at Parkland according to Newman.
“Student Government is meant for students, they are the avenue that students can anonymously [take] if [they] want express a view or grievance, and their peers will work to understand the issue and elevate it to those who can help to resolve the issue,” said Newman. “They are the students sitting in your class every day that understand their peers’ needs and will plan and organize events/programs/workshops to provide a resource to the students on our campus. They are you, the student.”
Students can visit www.parkland.edu/Main/About-Parkland/Department-Office-Directory/Student-Life/Clubs-and-Organizations for more information.
