Meet Charlotte Ridgeway. She’s a senior here at TU majoring in Latin American Studies and Anthropology. She is the president of the Student Government Association this week’s HC Campus Celebrity!
HC: When and why did you join SGA?
CR: I joined my sophomore year. It was into my freshmen year [that] I campaigned to be a senator. So I was a senator all of my sophomore year then vice president and then president. I joined because I wasn’t really as involved I wanted to be. I was in LASO [Latin American Student Organization] but I just felt like I needed something else; I was more involved in high school. I realized that everyone I saw on campus was all part of this one organization. I realized that those were the people who were doing as many things as they possibly could and making a difference and being well known. That’s what started this all.
HC: What do you do as president?
CR: A lot of different things, mainly managing everyone within SGA. We have a five person exec[utive] board, we have nine directors, we have representatives, and we have a twenty five person senate. Just managing everyone and their initiatives and their jobs, which range from a lot of different things. You have some internal initiative but normally you work with other people in SGA to get those done because it’s more of a team effort on things. A lot of things are like being the spokesperson for the organization or Towson University as a whole, making speeches, sitting on different university committees and being the only student representative.
HC: What are some changes you want to make at Towson?
CR: First, I really want people to know what SGA is and what we do and what we can do for people. A lot of people have all of these concerns and they don’t think it’s possible or don’t know where to voice those concerns. So having people know where to go with their problems and having people know that they can also fix these problems or at least get some progress on them or get more information. I wish people were more knowledgeable about everything that goes on behind closed doors whether it’s in SGA or the administrators’ perspective on different issues. So just more knowledge about the background of everything and why things happen because everything is for a reason, I wish more people understood that.
HC: How do you want to improve SGA as a whole and get more students involved?
CR: Like I said, I want more transparency between students and SGA and have it be more approachable and have people be able to come to us for anything and work with us. I think that’s one of the things we’re trying to do is have general members. We have nine director committees and anyone can sit on them even if you’re not in SGA. It’s pretty rare to have a non-SGA member sit on this committee so we’re trying to branch out and have these general members and have people be able to join and have that be their role within SGA and have some sort of involvement even if they miss the deadline for applications and didn’t get to campaign. So just involvement in different ways and going to the events we host and stuff like that.
HC: What networking opportunities have being in your position created for you?
CR: Definitely a lot. I started on different university committees. I’m on the board of visitors so [that] entails a lot of people that aren’t necessarily affiliated with Towson University. It’s people who are in the community so business leaders, engineers, and a few professors as well as the President’s council. It a bunch of different people who have opportunities outside of Towson who have a different perspective. They’re especially good people to know a little unbiased on certain things, they’re an outside source. There are a lot of administrators and alumni on the committee so those are people who have been to Towson, have been through it all, have seen the changes, know what works and what doesn’t work. They’re all really relatable people that you can get to know really well. Those people as well as the president and vice presidents of Towson who I’ve gotten to build a really strong relationship with.
HC: How can someone get involved in this organization?
CR: We have Tuesday meetings from 5-7 [p.m.] in Loch Raven. That’s a time where anyone can sit in the audience. We have a public participation section where you can really just voice anything that you want. We also have student concerns. You can always tweet at us or post on social media anything you’re worried about. We actually even have a suggestion box. As for coming to meetings, there’s a time when people can just say their concerns and like I said before, these committees that people can join. They range anywhere from academics, diversity, athletics and more than that. They can come to meetings that are once a week or once every other week. That’s a way they can get involved in initiatives and events and know what’s going on a little bit better.
HC: What advice do you have for people who want to follow in your footsteps?
CR: Don’t ever think that it can’t happen to you. But you also have to do it yourself; don’t wait for someone to push you. No one really told me to campaign to be a senator or anything, it was just something one day I decided to do and I just went for it. You can never know where that leads and to follow through with it. Don’t be content with your current position. Think of the possibilities of moving up and getting the most out of an organization as you possibly would.
Want to voice your opinion? Tweet the SGA @TowsonSGA or email your concerns to: sga@towson.edu