Scott Turner
In Motion Staff Writer
Photo by Amber Boutot
The beginning of any semester is a time for change and this past one has been no exception. For the Student Government Association, this included something unforeseen: the resignation of the sitting SGA President Gabriel Hannah.
What is the process behind this? How is the organization handling the change? What, if any, changes will occur as a result? What are the potential effects it may have on the school? To answer these questions, In Motion sat down with the new President, Tiffannie Cassidy, and the new Vice President, Joel Padilla.
At the beginning of Fall semester, Hannah was no longer able to continue to meet the responsibilities required of SGA president and chose to resign. This set in motion the process of the office changing hands. When the SGA president resigns, the office is offered to those beneath him or her in accordance with the hierarchy established by its constitution. When it was offered to Cassidy, she discussed it with Hannah and then accepted the nomination. A vote was called and the new position made official.
The transition was a difficult one for many to make on a personal level, since Hannah was a close friend of all those working at SGA.
“When I was initially offered the position,” Cassidy recalled, “I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take it. I contemplated handing the position down to Joel and exchanging responsibilities. Coming into and accepting it was hard on me. Gabriel is a great friend.”
Padilla added, “It was hard on all of us, but here at SGA we’re a family, and we support each other.”
SGA has always had policies that dictate how it operates. Under the new leadership there is no shortage of goals. One change is that a new mentality of “work smarter, not harder” has been put into place.
“In the past, many details of how SGA was run were subpar,” Cassidy explained. “For example, there were many paperwork details that weren’t properly submitted and the focus was more on social events than ones that helped the school. We’ve completely thrown out the older policies that aren’t productive and the board members have their new responsibilities covered.”
Padilla said, “We’re also hoping to have events that are more community-centric, more events that could involve the families of students and more events that provide charitable help to the community.”
There are also many goals for how SGA will serve the students this year.
“The primary goal is to serve the students who elected us,” Padilla said. “We’re hoping to act as a bridge between the students and administration and we will do whatever we can to affect change where we can.”
Cassidy said, “We’re also going to be building strong bonds with the new SGA members and preparing them for leadership positions. We’re going to help build strong leaders who are passionate about what they do.”
There is also a focus on trying to lessen the discrepancies between the main campus and the satellite campuses across the county.
“These campuses have very few out-of -class and weekend hours where the labs are open, so many instructors are not able to provide as much in the way of additional help,” Padilla said.
While there are many plans, both Cassidy and Padilla recognize that not everything can be planned for without feedback from students.
“We want to be the voices to facilitate change and we have the opportunity to make that difference,” Padilla said. “We want everyone to know that we have an open door policy and we want them to know that we are here to serve them.”
Even with new policies being implemented, many different events are already in the works. With the revised policy regarding planning, portfolios pertaining to campus events are all submitted with time to spare. These portfolios contain relevant contact information for those involved, as well as the venue information and plans. This also provides extra security for the events. In the case someone is unable to finalize the plans themselves, the events can still proceed as planned since all relevant data can be easily obtained. With this extra leeway, there is much more time to attend to the details of the events and make them all the more refined for our college.
While SGA may have had an abrupt officer change at the beginning of the year, members have worked diligently to fulfill the duties they were elected for. There are many positive changes that have already been implemented, officers say, and many goals to improve student life not just on the main campus in Daytona, but all the satellite campuses as well.