The new Student Government Association senators were sworn in during the first senate meeting of the year last night.
The senators, elected last week and trained over the course of this past weekend, took their oaths and were appointed to their new committees by SGA Speaker Hayley Mandeville in an abbreviated meeting.
The new senators said that they are enthusiastic about the upcoming semester.
Alex Sebahar, 20, a first-year transfer student from Bunker Hill Community College, had a good impression of his first meeting, which lasted approximately an hour.
The communications and political science major said that he joined the SGA to learn about his new campus and get connected with UMass.
“I’m pretty excited. It should be a great year going forward,” he said.
He admitted he was not surprised to be elected after running against only four other candidates for six open seats in Southwest-North.
Freshman journalism major Sionan Barrett said she was also excited to get to know her new community as their representative.
“I’m excited to bring the concerns of my area residents to be heard,” she said.
The transition to the SGA came naturally to the 18-year-old Southwest senator who hopes to bring experience serving on her high school’s student government to the collegiate equivalent.
Willis Chen, a sophomore history and political science major, said he is ready for his second year as a representative for Southwest-North after the meeting.
“I want to continue my work helping students to curb fee and tuition increases, and to lobby the state for increased funding to the UMASS school system,” he said.
Because of a scheduling error, the campus center basement room had to be vacated by the SGA by 8 p.m. for a Ski and Board meeting and the senate agenda was cut short.
Despite the shorter-than-usual, hour-long meeting duration, other members of the SGA still had time to address the senate.
President Akshay Kapoor updated the senate on his meeting with new UMass Chief of Police John K. Horvath who started yesterday and his plans for strengthening five college connections.
He also told the new group of senators that there were plenty of appointments open to difference campus committees that work with the SGA.
Area governors from Orchard Hill and Central as well as SGA Treasurer Jen Healy also introduced themselves and expressed their intentions for increased cooperation and communication with the student senate.
Matthew Plumb can be reached [email protected]. Sam Hayes can be reached at [email protected].
