At its last meeting of the semester, Student Government prepared itself for the initiatives it hopes to tackle next year. 

The representatives of the 112th assembly, who have had five meetings thus far, heard words of encouragement as they brainstormed legislation for
the fall.

Madison Huerta, former speaker of the assembly, said representatives should make the best use of their time in SG by advocating for students. 

“In Student Government, a lot of people get caught up in whose name is on a resolution or who gets their picture in The Daily Texan or who gets to go to the meeting with the highest administrator,” Huerta, a management senior, said. 

“At the end of the day, they are in those positions to serve students, and it doesn’t matter whose name is recognized or whose picture is seen.”

Huerta said successful representatives have qualities such as empathy, awareness
and conceptualization.

“The best representatives are going to be the representatives that are focused on putting the needs of the student body first, being empathetic toward their fellow assembly members and focusing strictly on what can they do in their time to help others,” Huerta said.

Benjamin Solder, the current speaker of the assembly, said SG discussed reorganizing the campuswide election code to help SG elections run smoother. Looking forward, Solder said the assembly wants to increase visibility and communication by improving the SG website.

“I’m hoping that we can also put up those initiative progress documents on the website for people to check out the progress that their elected representatives are making on tangible campuswide issues,” Solder, a neuroscience senior, said. “We can also reach out to those communities who have previously been underrepresented by creating a campuswide biweekly email.”

Meanwhile, Camilla Kampmann, vice president of ethics and oversight, is working with her fellow representatives on improving new student orientation.

“My main aim is working and seeing what new students are getting out of orientation and where that is falling flat,” government and economics sophomore Kampmann said.

Prior to this discussion, SG Supreme Court members and other representatives were sworn in. Tessa Slagle, Thuy Nguyen, Hyun Woo Jeon and Alexis Darrow were all sworn in as SG Supreme Court justices. Justin Tennenbaum and Dwight Peton were sworn in as SG Supreme Court clerks.

Haris Rafiq was sworn in as engineering representative, and Alec Johnson was sworn in as
geosciences representative.