By Luke Butner

Last semester, The Collegian had the privilege to interview Student Government Association (SGA) president Sloanne Petersen about campus initiatives and organizations SGA is involved with. In our follow-up interview, Petersen provides us with updates to several SGA initiatives.

Along with numerous quality-of-life changes around campus, SGA has officially introduced two new student groups: the Cafeteria Committee and the Skateboarding Club.

The Cafeteria Committee is a highly anticipated team that SGA was lively in putting together last semester. By working closely with the campus dining services, this committee aims to improve the dining experience on campus and rework the meal-plan model to be more efficient. This committee will provide direct feedback to the cafeteria staff regarding meal options and variety, general student thoughts and any other cafeteria-related business.

The Skateboarding Club, an organization led by freshman Julian McLeod, was approved as an official group during one of the general assemblies last semester. Be on the lookout for events by this club, but because of the lovely weather, they have yet to be spotted doing tricks around campus.

SGA has continued to work with the college’s Facility Improvement Committee to join discussions regarding updating campus infrastructure. Excitingly, Petersen announced that the committee members have done an official walkthrough of student facility buildings and has noted changes that need to be made. Petersen noted the list includes immediate short-term fixes and long-term adjustments to campus infrastructure.

Petersen’s vision for SGA this semester is to improve communication between students and administration. To achieve this goal, Petersen will increase SGA outreach to students and faculty and, ultimately, increase student involvement on campus. Furthermore, Petersen hopes to finally introduce the long-awaited President’s List by the end of the semester, which will recognize students with exceptionally high GPAs.

Looking ahead, SGA has had relatively positive results with their textbook project. With the success of this project, buying textbooks separately will become a thing of the past for GC students. Indeed, this project aims to include textbook costs as part of tuition, a feature most students highly support. Although progress is slow, Petersen assured us that she is hopeful in a future where textbooks are not an out-of-pocket cost for GC students.

Petersen concluded the interview by encouraging students to stay engaged with campus activities. She also added, “My email is always open… for [ideas, critiques or anything]. Petersen’s email is sloanne.petersen@greensboro.edu, and she encourages students to reach out to her for “literally anything.”