A Word of Advice

The transition from high school to college can be intimidating, but SGA has your back! Here are a few words of advice from our members:

• “It’s not uncommon to feel small and unimportant the first couple weeks on a big campus like JMU, and that’s how I felt initially. However, the best thing you can do is to join things– whether it be student government, a dance team, theater, you name it! Even if you don’t like it, you’ll still end up meeting amazing people. The more you get involved, the easier it is to find your niche and start making your mark on Madison and really begin to ‘Be the Change.’” – Julie Hirschhorn, ‘15
• “Be friendly to those who live near you. Remember, they are with you for an entire year!” – McKenzie Quinn, ‘15
• “Do what you love, not what you think you’re supposed to do.” – Shevy Chaganti, ‘14
• “Eat at every dining facility on campus. We do have the third best food in the country! So yummy.” – Rachel Francis, ‘14
• “Remember to hold the door open! It’s a JMU tradition! And don’t forget to smile, be kind and have as much fun as possible.” – Kenya Pennington, ‘15
• “Follow every JMU related twitter account.” – Matt Klein, ‘13
• “Break bad habits and start good ones, especially time management. Join something – anything! Keep an eye out for the freshman 15, it’s sneaky. Don’t be afraid to talk to people, whether it’s your hallmates, teachers, or random people that look friendly. Actually, don’t be afraid of anything. Be really open-minded and try new things!” – Rachel Fisher, ‘15
• “Try things you never would have tried before. Be open to other people and ideas. We have some of the most amazing food in the country, but balance it with exercise, and stay healthy. Take a class in a subject you know absolutely nothing about!!” – Lauren Holder, ‘15
• “Know that college is what you make it. You have a total clean slate from what occurred in your past and that you are able to move forward. Also know the choices you make now can set how the next four years to go, so make decisions that will build your life up, for it will build your Madison Experience as well.” – Jacob Mosser, ‘14
• “If there was one thing I wish I had come into JMU with, it would have been the knowledge life takes its own path and to be game for the ride. Try not to have a preconceived notion of what your Madison experience will be. Everything may not happen perfectly, but it is all a great learning experience. In the end you will find friends to last a lifetime and will have more chances than ever before to get involved with something you are passionate about. Also, try to infuse your dorm room with your personality. It is best to make it feel like a little piece of home!” – Taylor Vollman, ‘15

We can’t wait to see you in August!

 

D.C. Lobbying Trip–Kathleen Murphy

On April 16th, 10 members of the Legislative Action committee as well as some representatives from within SGA road tripped to Washington D.C. to lobby for financial aid and student loan forgiveness. We loaded into a 12 passenger JMU facilities management bus, listened to all kinds of music, and asked ice breakers such as “What is your favorite childhood movie?” Once we reached D.C., we checked into the Marriott and had an organizational meeting. After our meeting we all loaded into “the party bus” and went to dinner. We scarfed down Chipotle, Noodles & Co, ice cream and gelato.

With bellies full of food we went to Katie Stolp’s house, met her parents and watched part of Dodgeball on TV. We all got back to the hotel, went over the details of our bills concerning loan interest rates and loan debt forgiveness (S. 2051, H.R. 3826, H.R. 4170), and came up with talking points.

The alarms went off around 5:30 and we all stumbled out of bed. Everyone got dressed, and may I say, we we’re a sharp looking group. We hopped on the metro, were packed in like sardines for most of the way, and arrived at our stop after a 30 minute commute. Our first appointment was with Tom Culligan who is a JMU alum and works for a member of Congress. He gave us tips, approaches on how to talk to staff, and even had a pie chart with debt and spending numbers. He was fantastic and was very helpful. From there we broke into our separate groups, with 3-4 people each.

Each group had a different list of legislators offices to find to talk to. In total we spoke to over 25 offices and met with multiple staffers who have direct contact with members of Congress. Overall, our meetings were very well received. We handed out “leave behinds” which highlighted our talking points and those were a hit. We turned some heads. Everyone was professional, we knew our facts, and we asked tough questions. After our meetings we went to Good Stuff for lunch; we all just about inhaled our food, we were so hungry.

As senior, I was very pleased with my last (sniffle sniffle) lobbying trip. I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. Well… maybe if I was offered a job… All kidding aside, it was a great trip. We learned a lot and had the ability to bond as members of Student Government.  I’m proud to say that this group got a lot accomplished in short period of time and that I got to be a part of it.

At-Lare Senators & Representative Applications Available

There are still positions available within Student Government. Applications have come out for At-Large Senator (not representing a specific college) and Representatives. Both positions have varying responsibilities and are necessary parts of the organization. For more information read below:

• At-Large Senator: A voting member of the Student body Senate. This member shall be part of one of the committees: Finance, Community and Traditions, Student Services, Academic and Legislative Action. Must attend a weekly Student Body Senate meeting.
• Representative: Non-voting members of the Student Body Senate. This member shall be part of one of the committees: Finance, Community and Traditions, Student Services, Academic and Legislative Action. Must attend 4 of the Student Body Senate meetings. (if you are a first time applicant, this is a great way to work your way into the organization)

Applications can be found here and are DUE to Taylor 203 Friday April 20th by 5pm. Both positions can be found on the application. Question? Email Kelly Johnson at Johns2ke@dukes.jmu.edu,

Announcing: Minor Elections WINNERS

The counts are in, and people have accepted their positions for Class Councils and College Area senators.  Listed below are the positions that will be YOUR voice for the next academic year.  Be on the look out for At-Large applications soon as well.

Senior Class Council:

 President–Meredith Wood

Vice President–Nadia Masroor

Treasurer–Annamarie Frost

Secretary–Caitlin Phillips

Junior Class Council:

President–Griffith Ridgway

Vice President–Justin Tarbell

Secretary –Amberlee Taylor

Sophomore Class Council:

President–Lauren Holder

Vice President–Kaitlin Thomas

Secretary–Rachel Francis

Treasurer–Rachel Fisher

Academic College Senators

 College of Arts and Letters

 Aaron Brown

Chris Hook

Jessica Morris

David Scala

Ben Copper

Rahath Alam

 College of Education

Megan Willis

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Laura Wilkins

 College of Integrated Science and Technologies

Tyler LedDuke

Adnan Al-Karagholi

Cameron Young

John Smith

Allie Herold

College of Business

Nick Maggio

Nora Linkous

Kyle Prestel

Garret Hansen

College of Science and Math

Rania Sheikh

At-Large

Jeff Blevins

Courtney Herb

Campbell Keyser

Kenya Pennington

McKenzie Quinn

How To Vote for Major Elections

For those of you who have never been on BeInvolved, the task of creating a “profile” might be a little daunting. Well, have no fear, not only is the process quick and easy, outlined below are the steps you need to take. So sit back, open a second window, and register on BeInvolved:

1. Go to the homepage of BeInvolved
2. Click the “log-in” button
   
3. Enter your e-id and password
4. (Don’t worry this screen is normal)
5. You’re done!

NOW IT’S TIME TO VOTE

Announcing: Major Elections Candidates

Packets have been turned in, signatures have had time to try, and the candidates have had a meeting about the rules.  So who is running for what? (if you want descriptions from the CURRENT officers, click the title) Check it out:

Student Body President:

• Matt Klein
• Katie Stolp

Student Body Vice President:

• LeeNora (Nora) Linkous
• Alicia Pettis

Executive Treasurer:

• Jake Jedlicka

Student Representative to the Board of Visitors:

• Jacob Mosser *doesn’t have a website*

Be on the look out for all of their great campaigning materials, and make sure to create and account on Be Involved so that you can vote come March 28th & 29th.

For continual updates, follow @SGAjmu on Twitter (join the conversation with #majorelections) and “Like” us on Facebook.

Questions or concerns can be emailed to JMUelections@gmail.com.

JMU Student Body President Reallocates $500,000 for Spring Break Trip

Student fees meant to be budgeted for student organizations like University Program Board, Student Ambassadors, Panhellenic, Interfraternity Council, and more are moved to his personal account.

President Pat Watral released the following statement today:

“Honestly, I didn’t see the money being used for anything at the time so I have decided to allocate it for an official spring break trip to Panama City Beach, FL for spring break with my friends.

I understand many of you now disapprove of the decision, but I’m sorry, the funds are now locked up in the all-inclusive Bikini Beach Resort and my tab at the oceanfront bar.

My friends Simon, G, and Chris are so pumped for this trip, because we are seniors and want to spend as much time together as possible before we graduate.  I would hate to tell them that I had to cancel our plans because just Student Ambassadors was afraid they wouldn’t be able to give tours next year and UPB wants to have a Spring Concert.  Besides, I did spend the money on a concert. It just the concert is private and it is in Florida and it’s next week.

Again, I am sorry many of you are so upset about this issue.  I swear I will post all my pictures in a special album on Facebook so everyone can see them and imagine they were at the wet t-shirt concert with us.”**

OKAY LET’S BE REAL.  I would never do something so horrifically irresponsible.  I am honored to be JMU’s Student Body President and have incredible respect both for the allocation of student tuition money and for the organizations that deserve the funds.

Tuesday February 28 the Student Government Association will be debating and approving the budgets of the other nine Front-End-Budgeted (FEB) student organizations on our campus. 

Front-End-Budgeted simply means that the organization has proven that they put on so many large events throughout the year for JMU students, that they do not have the time to hold fundraising for each one.  Therefore, administration and SGA create their budget BEFORE the start of the year that they can use.

Those FEB organizations are: Student Ambassador, University Program Board, Inter-Fraternity Council, Panhellenic, EARTH Club, Madison Equality, Black Student Alliance, C.A.R.E and the NCAAP.  (SGA is also a FEB group, but we cannot decide our own budget)

All JMU students should care about how the SGA will allocate your tuition money.  I hope my little story above shocked enough students into paying attention to how these budgets will be allocated. It is my sincerest wish that students would take part in this process by voicing their opinion to members of the SGA.

Students can make a difference by:

• Stopping by the SGA office to speak with SGA members (Taylor 203 above TDU)
• Attending the SGA meeting Tuesday night at 5:15pm in Festival Highlands room for FEB night where they can voice their opinions.
• Tweeting @SGAjmu about #FEBNIGHT

Being a JMU student is all about taking part in important decisions in our society, and educating ourselves so that we may be the change! See you at FEB Night.
Pat Watral

Student Body President

**This story is NOT real. Pat did NOT take the money. The story was meant as an attention grabber. Thank you**

Richmond Lobbying Trip–Rachel Francis

On Thursday February 16^th 2012, six SGA students drove from JMU to Virginia’s capital city to lobby with Virginia State legislatures. Our agenda started early in the morning with us attending over seven meetings with VA Senators and delegates to discuss the lack of financial aid offered to college students.

We teamed up with the lobbyist group Virginia CAN (College Access Network) who were the leaders of the Virginia21 campaign. Their main purpose was to poll students asking them for the amount of debt they will have by the end of their college years. After a total of 10,000 signatures, with JMU contributing over 1,400 of them, the average Virginia college student’s post-graduate debt surmounted to over $100,000.

The experience was very exciting for me because I had never been involved with the state legislature at such a personal level. This trip was my first lobbying experience but was not for sophomore Legislative Action committee chair, Shevy Chaganti and fellow committee member, sophomore Ben Copper. Their previous experience helped newcomer lobbyist Courtney Herb, a freshman in JMU’s student government organization, as well as myself. We learned to personally connect with each Senator and delegate and to seek out our own local constituents while attempting to persuade them about our financial aid problems.

We ultimately wanted the VA education budget to get revamped in hopes of utilizing every penny the state gives college institutions. In comparison to previous Richmond lobbying trips, Shevy believes that this one was the most effective trips SGA has taken. Later on this semester, a larger group of SGA students will be representing James Madison University in Washington D.C.

 

Left to right: Rachel Francis, Courtney Herb, Taylor Vollman, Shevy Chaganti, Ben Copper and Brian Estep

SOUPer Bowl

In 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children.  Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America, over 3 million of which are ages 5 and under. (Numbers provided by Feeding America)

Those numbers are appalling, shocking, and down right disturbing.   We live in one of the greatest countries in the world and there are people who don’t know when their next meal will come.

Which is why this year we are participating in a canned food drive called Souper Bowl of Caring (check out the Facebook event). This drive happens all across America with the donations go to local food banks. Our donations specifically are going to Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

We will have three donation locations on campus starting Feb 1-Feb 18:

• Carrier,
• ISAT, &
• Festival

Off campus? Check out these locations:

• Camus Ministry at Haas House (741 S. Main St.)
• Baptist Campus Ministries (711 S. Main St.)
• Catholic Campus Ministries (1052 S. Main St.)

Lets see how many hungry people we can feed! Last year this nationwide effort raised over $10million worth of food donations! Bins are out and about now, bring as much as you can because every little bit helps. Be the Change JMU. Be the Change.

Help NIKE Grind at UREC

Don’t know what to do with your old athletic shoes? Recycle them! UREC is currently collecting athletic shoes to donate throughout the Harrisonburg community as well as recycle through Nike Grind.

 

Gently used shoes will be donated to the community through First Step and Our Community Place. First Step offers shelter and support groups to women and children fleeing from domestic violence. Our Community Place focuses on people helping people and offers a soup kitchen for all in need. 

 

Worn and torn shoes will be donated to Nike Grind where they will be recycled and made into sport surfaces around the world, including gym/weight room flooring, running tracks, playground surfaces, and outdoor and indoor synthetic courts. Since 1990, Nike Grind has collected 25,056,779 pairs of shoes globally. You can learn more about Nike Grind while your old shoes could help create a basketball court!

 

Please, no cleats, sandals, flip flops, or shoes containing metal. Any brand of athletic shoes is acceptable!

 

Help UREC by donating your athletic shoes today.  Gently used and worn and torn shoes should be placed into their respective bin in the lobby of UREC. Also, thanks to our partnership with Athletics for a collection site, shoes may also be dropped off into their respective bin on the first floor of Godwin. Contact Chris Jones at 540-568-8723 or jones4cr@jmu.edu for more information.