Written by: Student Senate Executive Cabinet
The Elizabethtown College Student Senate is excited to start another school year! With a new year comes change, some of which has already been implemented. Sean Fiedler, Ally Killen and Zach Dennin, the executive president, vice president and elections chair, respectively, all graduated in the spring, leaving open positions that were filled in May. The new Executive Cabinet is as follows:
Junior Holly Francescone- President
Senior Emily Seratch- Vice President
Senior Josh Baker- Treasurer
Senior Tara Young- Secretary
Junior Sarah Conway- Student Activities Chairperson
Senior Katie Freed- Elections Chairperson
Junior Emily Perry- Publicity and Marketing Chairperson
That cabinet has worked all summer to prepare for the 2018-2019 year. In July, the group met with new Vice President for Student Life Dr. Celestino Limas about pressing student life issues, and they look forward to his presence as the new Student Senate advisor.
The cabinet also dove into Fall Orientation planning at the end of last semester. Student Senate is responsible for three orientation events and traditions: first-year move in, Campaign and Induction. Move-in ran smoothly, with over 100 smiling volunteers to greet families, carry refrigerators and assure first-years they picked a fantastic school.
Campaign ran just as well. Perry planned and executed the event, with both her and senior Brendan McDonough hosting, making audience members laugh, scream and cringe with cheesy jokes, poll questions and free t-shirts! All three a capella groups, the College’s dance team, E-motion and Mad Cow Improv performed and gave the new students a sense of what performance groups at Etown are like.
All the groups then moved outside to their own tables to greet first-years and give information, audition dates and more t-shirts! The event also gave students a sense of what Senate is about and what each position entails.
Freed introduced a new platform to sign up for Senate at Campaign: a Google survey! Instead of passing out paper petitions, receiving 25 signatures and sending them to the Senate mailbox, interested students were given a QR code that led directly to a new, online petition that can be filled out in less than 10 minutes, making it easier than ever to start making a difference through Senate.
Induction was, once again, a beautiful event. Francescone and Seratch did a great job representing Senate through their words in the ceremony, and senators, faculty and staff met the first-years with great enthusiasm as they received their pins and signed the Integrity Pledge.
Student Senate is especially excited to work with the new E-town Jays app. Within the app, Senate has its own tile on the home page, where students can currently find the new online petition and a link to the website. Senators will be working with Interim Director of Student Activities Kristen Vieldhouse throughout the year to improve upon the app and add more features.
Last semester, Baker announced the Senate Travel Fund he and his committee had been working on most of last year. The travel fund is meant to help students who commute to unpaid internships and placements pay for gas. Students fill out a Google form with the required information and receive monetary compensation after a review of the application. The fund proved to be a big success last semester after its first run, with 130 students sending in the form. We hope to see this success again for the current semester and for years to come.
Senate has plenty to look forward to for the semester. A new year means growth in Senate, both figuratively and literally, with new senators joining class senates and a whole new class senate entirely! We are excited to keep up ongoing traditions, such as Trunk or Treat, the Homecoming parade and clubs fair and Thanksgiving dinner and the tree lighting. Working with Limas, a new advisor, to tackle ongoing issues and make sure that student voices are heard is our main priority.
If you have interest in joining Student Senate, please scan the QR code located next to the TV near the mail room. Don’t want to join but want to make sure your voice is heard? That’s great, too! Our meetings are Thursdays at 3:45 in Hoover 212, and open to the public. We look forward to hearing from you! Just email senate@etown.edu in advance so we know you are coming.
We look forward to a semester of hard work, new friendships and making differences in the college community!
