Catherine McGrath just completed her first semester as student liaison to the College Park City Council, and has found the experience as a whole enlightening. McGrath, a junior communications and environmental science and policy major, believed that her interest in University Senate and Student Government Association (SGA) stemmed from her passion for environmental policy.
McGrath asserted that, in other school organizations, change is detached from the actions of the students. But when she makes a decision as student liaison, she sees the immediate effect on the way people live their lives in College Park, and that she finds that process amazing.
McGrath’s main responsibilities as student liaison are to relay the issues of the city back to SGA and then anything that the SGA is working on back to council. “What city council wants me to do as student liaison is be the voice of the students when they cant have a ton of students at the meetings, especially when they are talking about different policies that affect students or student housing, like development projects, anything with the noise code, any kind of alcohol citations or just anything that they want me to weigh in on from the student perspective.” said McGrath.
She said her favorite part of her position is seeing how the things that city council enacts are actually affecting residents.
McGrath explained that when the city council was evaluating the farmer’s market that takes place in front of City Hall every Sunday, she praised one of the vendors, Bill’s Backyard Barbeque. “I know a ton of people that go out of their way to get lunch from Bill’s,” she said. “Its great deals and delicious food, and students have even been using Bill’s barbeque for on-campus tailgates and for some philanthropy events.”
After the meeting, Bill approached McGrath to tell her how appreciative he is that students love his business so much.
“I think that was when I first realized that this is real,” said McGrath. “These are people’s real lives that we are affecting. This is his business and the fact that I am commending him, saying that people love his business, encouraging people to go to his business and saying that the city should keep Bill around for their farmer’s market, is not just something that I am saying. That’s something that is permanently affecting Bill’s business and his livelihood.”
McGrath was recommended for this position at the end of the spring 2013 semester by the former student liaison, junior Josh Ratner. “We served on University Senate together, so when his position was ending he was kind of looking for someone who would be good at it,” said McGrath. “He knew that I cared about campus issues, and also I’m in a sorority and he said a lot of the city’s issues happen with Greek Life, so he thought that I would be a really good candidate.”
“She had the personality and the work ethic to be able to handle representing the student body to the council members and mayor,” said Ratner. “It takes a certain kind of person to be able to do that.” He added that her involvement in University Senate and Greek Life were very valuable traits in this position. After an application and interview process with some of the city council members, she was appointed to the position.
McGrath asserted that the most difficult part of her position was learning the ins and outs of the city, how meetings work and general terms and policies that she was not familiar with. She added that Ratner, city clerk Janeen Miller, as well as the city council members and Mayor Andrew Fellows were all a huge help in getting her acquainted. “The city council members and the mayor were really supportive of me,” said McGrath, “I think they really appreciate the student liaison position because it brings so much to the decisions that they make.”
McGrath is a sister of Alpha Omricron Pi, and originally from Towson, Maryland. She has a younger brother, her engineer father and her lawyer and accountant mother. After college, McGrath plans to attend law school. In her spare time, McGrath enjoys hanging out with all of my sorority sisters and going into DC. “I really like to travel and I’ve been to some really weird places like Iceland, Guatemala, and I’m going to New Zealand this winter break,” McGrath said.