The sun was radiant, and on the Garrison quad, blades of grass shimmered under its bright rays. On days like these, students such as fourth-year Tony Breen longed for an outdoor area to sit and enjoy the warm weather.
Breen, along with SGA president Jubelo Oyeniran, brainstormed a solution and advocated for the implementation of additional outdoor seating on the Owings Mills campus.
“I know that, especially in warm weather, this area will be a fantastic place for students to study, connect and enjoy the outdoors. I’m very grateful that Stevenson listened to my input and made this idea a reality,” Breen said.
Oyeniran was especially enthusiastic about the installation of hammocks, keeping those who live off-campus in mind.
“When you think about commuter students, they don’t really have a place within the School of Business at least, to mingle or just talk with people,” Oyeniran said.
Second-year commuter Samina Dhani has taken advantage of the opportunity, utilizing the hammocks more than once.
“It offers students a place to relax and decompress from their school work. It is also a great spot to hang with friends,” Dhani said.
The implementation of outdoor seating is only one example of the efficiency and urgency with which SGA advocates for students at Stevenson. On October 22, a water filler was installed in the Reading Room.
Getting the water fillers installed was not an easy task; students have repeated the request to SGA in past years.
“Every SGA has tried to do that for the past decade or so. No SGA has accomplished that, but we’ve been able to accomplish that,” Oyeniran said.
This year’s SGA has been determined to make an impact on campus and to get students connected within the community.
“We’ve increased the number of people in SGA this year by at least 30 people just by being more open and giving students the opportunity to get involved,” Oyeniran said. “If you’re a student leader, we have the food committee, we have the civic engagement committee, we have the homecoming court planning committee. More students know about the SGA now than ever before.”
In order to increase advocacy, SGA had to increase involvement as well. One initiative was the revival of town hall meetings, in which the Stevenson community is invited to present feedback about SGA’s accomplishments and propose new ideas.
Under the leadership of SGA vice president Allie Fitzgerald, the first town hall meeting in two years was hosted in the Center for Student Life and Leadership, drawing approximately 65 students to the event.
“I wanted the town halls to be less of a presentation and more of a comfortable space where students could express themselves honestly about any aspect of Stevenson that they may love or want to see improvements in,” Fitzgerald said.
SGA also encouraged students to participate at the beginning of the semester by handing out free donuts at the MAC in exchange for feedback.
“We initially intended to do that more frequently, but when we considered the amount of feedback we got, it didn’t make sense to keep getting feedback if we haven’t necessarily solved all the problems we received,” Oyeniran said.
SGA has been doing just that– working to solve as many problems as possible within the short time frame they have in office.
“Never present a problem without a solution. For example, I had a meeting with Jim Mustard where essentially, I gave him a proposal with multiple solutions as to how to get outdoor seating,” Oyeniran said. “Just because we provided such a clear solution, where he didn’t even have to think about it, he just did that. That’s why we’ve been able to accomplish so much so fast.”
SGA’s next initiative is to nurture talent at Stevenson University, specifically in the field of entrepreneurship. Other schools such as Towson University provide opportunities for their students receive funding for their ideas and innovations in competitions such as the College Cup.
“We’re thinking about doing a shark tank. Students would be able to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges,” Oyeniran said.
With many more goals and objectives for the semester, SGA representatives encourage students to get involved as much as possible.
“We just wanted to make the school as better as possible,” Oyeniran said.
SGA’s next town hall meeting will be held on November 14 in the Center for Student Life and Leadership. They can also be contacted through their website https://www.stevensonsga.com/.
