With the start of a new school year, students are wondering what the Student Government Association President Octavio Sanchez, and Vice President Michael Cimino, have planned for the Hilltop. Sanchez and Cimino discussed proposed bills, what events they are keeping and changing and how they will continue to work on building the communication gap that has been separating the student body and the administration.

“You’re going to see a lot more of us this year,” said Cimino.

Two major bills proposed for this semester are the possibility of obtaining a trophy for the Battle of the Saints games and also the re-creation of a St. Edward’s University Yearbook, according to Sanchez and Cimino. Senator Colin Stonecipher has proposed this bill for a trophy in hopes to engrave the winner of the Battle of the Saints games on the trophy every year. Senator Jana Soares is proposing bringing back the St. Edward’s yearbook as a sort of year-in-preview-style yearbook, according to Sanchez. Sanchez also stated that other plans will depend on what students want, and he plans on having more face-to-face communication with students and organizations about what they want. 

“Senators have a lot of things on their plates,” said Cimino.

When it comes to events, this will be the 10th year of the Big Event so Sanchez and Cimino both have plans to make it bigger and better. According to Sanchez and Cimino, there is also a possibility of a new event where University President  George E. Martin would directly address the students on campus, and students would have the opportunity to possibly ask him questions. This event would help bridge communication gap between students and administration. 

Sanchez said that he has made more personal connections with numerous vice presidents’ on campus.

Sanchez gets to attend the Board of Trustees retreat and is hoping to share ideas from students with the board and also share ideas that the board may have at the retreat. Sanchez said that his administration will  be successful if he can build school spirit, and if a student can come up with a great idea for SGA and feel empowered to actually do it.

The first SGA meeting is on September 12. More information can be found on Collegiate Link.