Final Thoughts

These are my official final thoughts about SGA. If you would like to hear my unofficial final thoughts about Samford, about college, and about life, come find me on a back porch late at night somewhere.

When I first started my term as SGA President, I somehow thought I was going to revolutionize the organization. We had a top-notch executive board lined up, a restructured office of student affairs, and a phenomenal new SGA advisor (Janna Pennington). Needless to say, I was excited about our endless potential this year.

What I quickly found, however, was that change does not come easy. Our initial fervent energy soon receded, and before we knew it we were falling back into old routines and getting swamped by school. SGA has not revolutionized the lives of Samford students this year. But it has made some tangible improvements.

Perhaps the most unseen of these improvements is the fact that SGA has almost completely restructured itself this year. The Student Activities Council and the Presidential Advisory Council look completely different, and we have even taken the first step in re-writing our own Constitution and Code of Laws. To the average student, however, I am sure this is about as exciting as watching stalagmites form.

So what are some things that SGA has done that the average student might actually care about? Well for one, we have planned some really good events. I would daresay that anyone who has given Harry’s a shot any Thursday night this year has been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the performers featured there. And the only measure we need that the upcoming Avett Brothers is a raging success is that it is the only student event (besides Step Sing) in recent memory to completely sell out the Wright Center.

We have also done our best to demonstrate a collective student voice to administration. Although many students probably do not realize it, SGA has communicated concerns about everything from meal plan pricing to unfairness in the Samford judicial system to the appropriate administrators this year. But communication is an ongoing process, and as I stated earlier, change does not come easy. Trying to get major policies changed at Samford is like trying to teach a dog to juggle… it might not be impossible, but it takes a long time.

Well, this is the end of another year. College is an interesting place, it stands eternally still as students pass through it like water. In just a few short weeks we will be finishing up projects, getting ready for finals, and saying goodbye to another class of Samford students and student leaders. That includes me. I have made some really dumb decisions during my time at Samford, but choosing to lead SGA this year was not one of them.

I wish you all nothing but the best as you carry on in this exciting and bizarre time of life.

Sam

Blog

As all the faithful followers of this blog (aka my parents and maybe Janna) have probably noticed by now, the SGA blog has been a bit of a failure this semester. The blame rests on no shoulders but my own. In the world of ever-expanding technology and increasingly condensed information, the art of sitting down and typing out extended posts has been overtaken by the allure of "140 characters or less". But it was worth a shot. Hopefully one day this site will be revitalized by a SGA President with more time or motivation than I. In the meantime, I encourage seekers of SGA knowledge to check out our website (www.samford.edu/sga), for students to join orgsync, and for everyone to follow our twitter account (www.twitter.com/samfordsga) for updates. I do, however, plan to post one epic "final thoughts" article on this blog before my term is done.

All the best,

Sam

Welcome Back... again.

Spring semester 2011 is officially underway! I hope that everyone has had a restful and enlightening break whether at Samford, at home, or abroad. Now it's back to business as usual, hopefully everyone is ready to begin and finish the year off strong. It is comforting to see Samford alive and thriving once again.

And if you couldn't already tell, it's Step Sing season. Yes, that magical time of the year when people can be caught humming the same songs repeatedly, no one ever seems to have any free time, and there are long lines across campus at random times of the day. Many thanks to Grant Millsaps and our Step Sing Directors (Erin and Bri) for their hard work to get us ready for these 3 weeks.

To answer the most pressing concern that I am sure is on everyone's mind as they start back: What is SGA going to do this semester? Well to answer that question would be kind of like trying to predict how many points Kobe Bryant is going to score in a given basketball game... you can never be exactly certain, but you know that it's going to be a lot more than anybody else. I'll just leave it at that for the time being. A few hints to look forward to in the next semester are the SGA survey, a new constitution / code of laws, elections, a fight against exorbitant Samford costs, a huge spring concert, and lots of free stuff. But let's be honest, Step Sing is going to dominate everyone's lives for a while.

Spring break is coming,

Sam