Our SGA President, Brandon Malone, and Vice President, Zenani Johnson, have been busy all summer long. They traveled to Tallahassee, Florida to meet with the Florida Student Association (FSA) where Brandon was elected Internal Vice Chair of FSA. They also traveled to Washington D.C. and spent time brainstorming with the SGA Presidents and Vice Presidents from all over the country. On top of their traveling and advocating for all students in Florida, our SGA President and Vice President still found time to launch several of their initiatives from their platform. Here are a few of their initiatives coming to UWF this school year.
1. Disability Initiatives
The goal of this initiative is to make UWF more accessible to students with disabilities by upgrading handicap-accessible desks and making handicap door access buttons more reachable for students in wheelchairs. This initiative is being funded by Aramark and will be completed by the end of the Fall 2018 semester.
“With the adversity they face from being disabled, I want to make the campus more accessible so that people can navigate our campus with ease,” said SGA President Malone.
2. Health and Safety
SGA says UWF should be expecting a school wide health fair in November. SGA will be collaborating with Peer Educators, the Health and Wellness Center and campus organizations to provide students with information and resources regarding mental and physical health.
“We want to showcase all of the resources on campus for health and wellness that students may not know about,” said Malone.
3. Student Homeless Prevention
Vice President Johnson’s Student Housing Assistance Program will officially launch in the Fall of 2018. Johnson has been working on this program alongside UWF’s Case Management Services since her freshman year at UWF. This program will award students’ facing housing insecurity with a one time grant of up to $1,500.
“I believe that everyone who wants to attend college, should attend college. Students should not have to stop attending college because of financial reasons such as not having a place to stay. If there is anything I can do to assist students in need, such as developing initiatives and programs such as this one, I will,” said SGA Vice President Johnson.
4. Student Housing
UWF can also thank Malone and Johnson for advocating for the renovations in student housing. Select dorms on campus will have full sized beds and new appliances. Johnson is also on the Foundation Board that allocated the 2 million dollars to starts the renovations on campus. However, Johnson wants to do more for student housing,
“I want to add computers to dorms and ensure that, even after all of these updates, the rates for dorms won’t increase. The rates haven’t increased in 3 years, and it needs to stay that way” said Johnson.
5. Trolley Route
SGA is working on expanding the trolley route to the nearby apartment complexes and the Walmart Neighborhood Market. Walmart reached out to Malone and Johnson during the SGA election and offered to sponsor the trolley expansion. UWF’s Parking Services will also help fund the expansion.
Malone and Johnson said their top priorities are to lower the cost of parking permits on campus, donate students’ extra meals from their meal plans to the Argo Pantry and provide free feminine hygiene products in the restrooms. UWF’s 2018-2019 Student Government Association has definitely given Argos a lot to look forward to this year.