By ABIGAIL SHEARER
Tiger Media Network
The Student Government Association is looking for senators for the 2026-2027 school year. The Intent to Run must be filled out by Sunday.
According to SGA Vice President and former SGA Senator Brenna Schwien, there are many things students can learn from being a senator
“Through my time as a senator, I learned how SGA functions, all the different pieces of it, what needs to happen in order for different pieces of legislation to pass,” she said. ”But I also learned how to speak with my constituents and see what their concerns were.”
SGA President and former senator Jackson Sinsel said the opportunity to learn more about what different campus groups needed was one of the aspects of the job that stood out.
“When I was a senator, I enjoyed learning more about what groups were asking for,” he said. “So if they were asking to move money, why [are they asking] and where would they be going? When I did the allocations process, it was always interesting to learn about groups that I’d never heard about.”
Senator responsibilities include attending the weekly SGA meetings and office hours, and serving on a committee. An office hour can range from a 15-minute survey of what the senator’s fellow students want changed to talking to state representatives.
Every senator serves on a committee; for example, the allocations committee. Senators hear from clubs about how much funding they want allocated to their budgets, then vote on how much they believe each club should receive.
“I wanted to run for [Student Government Association] because I thought it would be something that would help me later in my career, and I really wanted to be involved on campus,” said first-year senator Lucina Parson.
Vice President Schwien said that, as a senator, students can make significant change on campus. This can be done through the committee, an open forum, discussions on bills put forth by clubs, and advocacy for fellow students.