Best Student Government (Community Colleges)

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Best Student Government (Community Colleges)
     To some, the old saying, "second best is never enough" rings loud and clear. Indian River Community College’s Campus Coalition Government earned the runner-up spot in last year’s Best of Florida Schools Award, but this group turned it up a notch. CCG tackled leadership development, inter-club communication, and community service by improving old programs and creating new ones.
     CCG recognized the need for students to grow personally and professionally, so it sponsored the Fall Student Leadership Conference – two days of group problem-solving activities and seminars to educate students about campus happenings. "This year, our officers played a more active role in the preparation of the event," says Michael Rovella, CCG vice president. "Before our advisors did most of the planning." As President Brooke Wadsworth says, "Michael and I both personally put on leadership workshops and prepared more ice breakers to help everyone get to know one another." Rovella says the workshops focused on teambuilding and club recruiting. The result: 115 students showed up.
     At the conference, CCG planned one of its biggest events, the Welcome Back Pool Party. "This activity serves as the kickoff event of the year, and promotes campus-wide involvement," says Lori La Civita, student leadership development coordinator. "We have tons of food, good music, and it’s loads of fun."
     As Public Information Specialist Michelle Abaldo says, "The Leadership Conference is planned and facilitated by CCG participants and their enthusiastic leadership made this the best conference we’ve had. CCG was able to use this event to motivate more than 450 students to participate in the Welcome Back Pool Party, too."
     The successful conference led to a membership boom for CCG, but also for campus clubs. "Two new clubs started as a result of this event," Rovella says. "Plus one group reactivated." Wadsworth says, "We had a total of eight new people join our officer team and e-board after the conference. Plus, about 20 students joined our other campus organizations."
     CCG also started "Leadership Link," to expand communication between CCG executive board members and club representatives. During CCG meetings, La Civita blends lectures with power-point presentations and communication games to enhance team cooperation. La Civita also meets one-on-one with group leaders to train them in specific skill areas they need to work on. During one game, officers lined up by their birthdates, using the numbers from their month, day, and year – the catch was that they couldn’t talk. The game helped them work as a group using other forms of communication.
     Despite its annual budget of just $12,000, CCG still held fund-raisers for charity events such as the "Turkey Trot." With the help of mass e-mails, faxes, flyers and banners, CCG gathered more than 300 people to participate in the 5K run around campus to raise money for the United Way. For Bactoberfest, CCG helped the BACCHUS Club promote responsible drinking and alcohol awareness. Activities such as an egg-toss with goggles to simulate a drunken affect attracted about 300 students. They even had a contest to see who could make the best non-alcoholic "bachtails."
     "With Bactoberfest, the neat thing is how they include roll-playing skits with a fun yet educational aspect," says Mary Holmgren, CCG advisor. "Our students got really involved and the snowball effect took off – word trickled down and more kids got active with it."
     Plus, 700 needy children had holiday wishes come true at the "Christmas at the River." The annual event in December showcases the work of a local man, Ken Stubbs. "He creates more than 1,500 handmade wooden toys in his garage," La Civita says. "He works seven days a week for 12 months to do this."
     Rovella says, "We invited half a dozen elementary schools and daycare centers to the river and brought Santa to give out the toys." Plus, all clubs lead the children around to select gifts, and the leftover toys went to local abused children’s homes, says Wadsworth.
     By delegating, CCG got everyone involved, more so than in the past when only a core group held all the responsibilities. As Wadsworth says, with more people planning, word travels faster. "Our Mr. and Miss IRCC contest had at least 30 contestants compared to the 15 from last year," Wadsworth says. "And this year we doubled out votes for that contest to 500."
     In addition to zeroing-in on club communication, CCG also worked on reaching the student body. Members set up a suggestion box outside the office and showed the students their opinions counted by making improvements on campus based on the ideas. One change included revising the criteria for the Mr. and Miss IRCC contest so it focused more on grades and involvement instead of looks and popularity. "Plus, we’re improving the role of the winners to make them more involved," Wadsworth says. "Now, they’ll be at all big events representing the school."
     CCG even took on national political interest and set up voter registration booths on not only the main campus, but on all branches, Abaldo says. "This year was better than ever before because CCG organized and asked better, more relevant questions at the IRCC Legislative Debate with Florida Senate and House candidates," Abaldo says. Through all its promotion, CCG got more than 800 students to register.
     "This is not an ego-based group," La Civita says. "Because of them we’ve had amazing results, with more students coming out to the events than ever before. They truly look out for the average student."
Contact La Civita at (561) 462-4723, Wadsworth at (561) 462-4932, or CCG at ircc@cc.fl.us.

Runner-up

     In the movies, a mysterious voice once whispered to Kevin Costner, "If you build it, they will come." But at Valencia Community College’s East Campus, the Student Government Association knew that if they announced it, the students usually wouldn’t show up. By knowing this ahead of time, SGA developed more assertive ways to reach out. In 2000, VCC-West won the Best of Florida Schools Award, while in 1999, VCC-East earned top honors. This year Florida Leader recognizes the East campus’ efforts with the runner-up spot.
     To get students to vote, SGA approached them instead of waiting to be sought out. For two weeks, SGA set up a table in the cafeteria and placed voter registration cards in high-traffic areas on campus. A drawing to win donated movie tickets and restaurant gift certificates provided an added incentive. Plus, SGA went multimedia, having President Joe Garcia speak on a local radio station about the importance of voting. Later, Republican and Democratic Party representatives spoke to the VCC community. By actively tracking down students, SGA got about 250 to register. "We had been planning this since the summer," Garcia says. "We focused on what did and didn’t work in the past, and came to the conclusion that we needed to be out there 24-7."
     "Overall it went very well since we were very strategic with placing the cards," says Mike Bosley, advisor. "SGA got all the campus groups involved and I think that’s what made it so successful."
     With an annual budget of $35,000, SGA hosted other activities including a volunteer fair, an outdoor movie, and "Exam Time Jam." Another event, Matador Day, celebrated the school’s birthday and mascot with classes canceled during a two-hour period. The fair-like "birthday party" allowed clubs to recruit, and 5,000 people attended. "I purposely over-budget to make sure we stay under our budget," Garcia says. "But for all of our activities we make proposals to our e-board. With them, we decide if it’s important enough to sponsor and if we can afford it."
     Garcia says that the year’s second biggest event was the "Outdoor Movie," "Gladiator." The event cost SGA $3,000 to not only show the film, but also to set up a jousting event and give out free cotton candy, popcorn, and glow sticks. "It’s one thing to do an event during the day when everyone’s already on campus," Garcia says, "But it’s another to get a record number of 300 students and their families to come to school on a Friday night."
     Bosley says, "We’ve never enhanced this event as much as we did this year. We worked very hard to get direct student feedback, and took extraordinary caution to warn that the movie had some violence. But we wanted families to come and be a part of the VCC community. I was really pleased to see that happen." Bosley says he tries hard to share a philosophy of service with SGA. "Our students are parents or work full-time jobs and they need a SGA that’s going to reach out to them in a variety of ways," he says. "I expect a lot from our officers and they have really met my expectations."
Contact Garcia at (407) 299-5000 ext. 2619, joe_garcia6@hotmail.com, or SGA at www.sga-east.go.cc.

     The Student Government Association of Miami-Dade Community College’s Wolfson Campus knows how to bring back the dead. But don’t expect to see zombies walking around the campus–SGA President Anel Avila’s administration specializes in dormant club resurrections.
     SGA focused on educating students on how to start their own groups. As a result, collegians established 25 new clubs, including the Otaku Japanese Animation Club and the Engineering Club. Plus, five groups awoke from inactivity, including the African Student Union and the Future Educators of America.
     To help keep clubs alive, SGA plans to get the groups new digs on campus. "We’re going to accommodate more organizations with office space and supplies in a new area that was previously used as a large conference room," Avila says. Currently, the clubs work in a crowded Student Life Center.
     Also, SGA is planning to start an Inter-Club Council to deal with group interaction. ICC will serve as a network between all the campus organizations to aid in the preparation of unified school events. "We needed organization but the question was always, how?" Avila says. "We thought that if all the club leaders met twice a month, they could schedule their events so that they wouldn’t run into each other. This way students could attend them all without having to choose." Avila says he also wants to make the ICC participation mandatory for all group leaders if they want funding. "So far we’re testing it out unofficially, like at our ‘Wolfson Fright’ Halloween party, we had a costume contest and the judges came from several clubs," Avila says. "It’s really nice to see all the organizations work together."
     Student Life Director Ana Maria DeMahy says the one of the main challenges the group faced included engaging commuters in club events. "They’ve been very sensitive to the students’ needs this year," she says. "They created fun on campus to encourage involvement, such as with a potluck lunch we had for Thanksgiving." SGA knew nontraditional students with families appreciated daytime events when they were already on campus, so they geared their plans with that in mind. "We also sponsored a workshop on civic duty and how crucial participation is here," DeMahy says. "About 40 of the Senators worked on this, and I must say that the results were truly outstanding."
Contact Avila at (305) 573-801, DeMahy at (305) 237-3536, and SGA at www.mdcc.edu/wolfson/students/lifesgaalbums.html.

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