Discussing the 4-4 with VPAA Talentino

This past Tuesday the Student Association meeting included an Open Forum session with Vice President for Academic Affairs Karen Talentino. Dr. Talentino came to ask for student feedback regarding the first semester of the 4-4 curriculum plan and many students were prepared with questions and comments. Most of the questions were of a more specific, departmental nature, but Dr. Talentino also answered broad questions about where the 4-4 system was taking us, it’s goal in general and provided reasoning for why the curriculum was set as it was. Deans Trumbower and Wry were also at the meeting to provide further insight and clarification on some questions. One of Dr. Talentino’s main concerns was the schedule grid that has been developed in conjunction with the new curriculum. The purpose of the grid, as Dr. Talentino explained, is to make class times uniform and provide more opportunities for out of class meetings. The Senate and the VPAA discussed the problems regarding the breakfast and lunch rushes in Alliot, the shuttle from North Campus and lack of common time outside of Friday afternoons. Students were very candid and asked difficult questions, all of which Dr. Talentino answered as completely as possible. The e-board is grateful that Dr. Talentino and Deans Trumbower and Wry were able to take the time to meet with students to gather their feedback and is looking forward to continuing work on assessing the 4-4 plan and new class grid!

See you next Tuesday!

Sunny

First Semester Roundup

Hello Everyone,

This past semester was a very busy semester for the SMC Student Association. We have had countless meetings, and let the student voices lead the school. We have also followed our mission, which is the work hard, then plan hard.

Here are some of the big things we have accomplished this semester in the S.A.:

1. FALL COMEDIAN: We had David Koechner come to campus as our Fall comedian. It was a great success do to the hard work of our Co-Secretaries of Programming, who did large amounts of work to bring him to campus. We filled up the entire gymnasium on campus, and sold more than expected tickets to the public as well. We also had Kit Rivers open for David, who is a student for SMC as well as a local comedian. She did great, and brought endless laughs to the people who attended.
2. DAY WITH THE TRUSTEES: The Student Association Executive Board had the opportunity to spend the day with the SMC board of trustees this Fall. We all talked about different projects that we had been working on in our separate positions as well as what projects we have been working together on. We then opened the floor to any questions from the trustees, as they wanted to know about everything going on with students on campus, technology, and how people outside the campus view SMC. It was a great time, and allowed for a lot of networking for the Executive Board.
3. RETURN OF WINTER BREAK: One of the biggest issues we faced this past semester was the issue revolving our winter break. It came to our attention that the school took away our winter break on the academic calendar, and students were never notified on the change. This break has been a normal event in the past, and students wanted a explanation to the change in the calendar. This break is normally a time for students to take a short 4 day break and go home and relax without any workload. This was also a time for faculty to have a nice break and relax as well. After much student input, the SA executive board had meetings with the President on the College, Faculty Members, Staff Members, Students, as well as the Dean of Academic Affairs. The Executive Board then extended the student voices about how we did not agree with taking away the break and after further thoughts, the break was reinstated into the academic calendar.
4. SA FINANCES: In past years, the Student Association was starting to look more like a bank for student run clubs and organizations. the Secretary of Finance as well as the Finance Committee then sat down and had 20 hours of meetings with clubs to then go over all the finances. At the end of the day, clubs were more aware of the financial situation of the SA in the future, and since then, have been more cautious on what they are spending their money on. This has now proven to bring more events and activities to all the students at SMC and bring a positive outlook for the future ahead!
5. SA ARCHIVES: The future is coming, and everything is going electronic. One of the projects the Executive Board has been working on is Digitalizing all of the SMC Student Association files. In the past, paper copies have been kept in file cabinets, and most of the time, lost from year to year. With this new system, using the tech start-up Dropbox.com, we are able to keep track of all documents for all clubs. This will solve the problem every year of clubs not having any of their paperwork in order at the beginning of each school year.

Great semester SMCVT students! I hope everyone had a great holiday break and can't wait to see you back on campus in a few weeks!

And for everyone who has recently been accepted to SMC, congrats! You will never regret coming to SMC, and the memories you will have forever!

Sincerely,

Chris Eldridge

Secretary of Finance

Being Secretary of Student Policy

As Secretary of Student Policy it is my job to run both Fall and Spring elections, make any changes to the Constitution that are deemed necessary by the Senate, acting as a filter for potential clubs, and being familiar with Robert's Rules of Order and the Constitution for any questions that may arise.

Getting ready for the Fall elections was a rather large and stressful task. I, with the help of many others, compiled a list from the Registrar and Residential Life to create one master list of students so that e-voting could be used for both Class Officer elections and Hall and Area Representative elections. When election day came around there was a few minor glitches that I was able to fix and elections went on as scheduled. I was very grateful for the help of my fellow E-board members who helped man the tables in Alliot when I could not. The most exciting thing about the elections this fall would probably be the new ability to write-in candidates on the e-voting.

My next major task was getting the Constitution revised, approved by the Senate, and printed. I started to re-type the constitution this summer for multiple reasons:

1. While trying to familiarize myself with the constitution I found many minor grammar and spelling mistakes that needed to be fix.

2. The formatting was annoying me(I am kind of a perfectionist on things like that).

3. There were some articles/policies that needed to be fixed.

So I started re-typing the Constitution, had the E-board and Grace Kelly(one of the SA advisors) look over the document for any changes, and brought the document before the Senate to be passed, which it was. The next more difficult part was making sure that I applied all the approved changes and made sure there were no others. This ended up taking longer than expected due to issues with some Policies that we were considering getting changed and we ended up changing the Fix it with Five Policy, added on the Programming Guide and important Finance documents to the end of the Procedure's manual. Which was handed out along with a new Advisor Confirmation Form, that outlines the roles of club advisors, at the November 1 S.A. meeting.

My other role as filter for potential clubs is the most constant job I do. So far this year I have had six potential clubs come to me. Out of that six only two have gone before the Senate and only one, Knight Watch, was passed as a club. This year we have a tighter budget and looking to ensure that club budgets are not made up primarily of food, which is why one club was not passed.

My goals for the rest of the year is to make some more changes to the Constitution with the help of the Student Policy Committee, make sure we have all information needed from clubs and ensure a successful Spring Election!

First Meeting Tomorow!!!

Hello Hello Hello!!

First SA Meeting in Cheray 101 tomorrow at 7:00!!!

Voting

Last Day of Voting is Today!!!!!!

Don't forget to VOTE

Don't forget to VOTE today and tomorrow!!!!! Your vote matters!!

Good luck to everyone running!!!!

SA Open Forum

As I sit here procrastinating on my Bio homework I just want to write about how excited I am for tomorrow's OPEN FORUM for the first year class. Hoping to see many of you tomorrow @ 7 in Eddie's!