The first ever Student Senate is here at Sinclair Community College and is available for students who want to voice the concerns of their fellow classmates or take advantage of a leadership position that could create a lot of opportunities to better the campus.
Student Senate is a program building from the ground up. This program has been started as a student advocacy group and is meant to serve as voice of the student body. Students that serve on the Senate advocate for changes on campus and solutions to concerns brought to their attention by peers.
There are 22 senator positions available in the Student Senate. There are 11 total areas of representation with two senators for each area. There are two senators for each career community. (STEM, business and IT, liberal arts and social sciences, creative studies, health sciences and public safety) There are also two senators for each Sinclair branch campus. (Eaton, Englewood, Huber Heights and Mason)
There are four officer positions in the senate as well including President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. This brings the total amount of positions available in the senate to 26.
The program was born last November to initiate student involvement and advocacy at Sinclair. At the moment, only three of the officer positions are filled: President, Vice President and Secretary.
Due to this being a new program and few people knowing of it, the Senate did not run an election this year. Instead, they took applicants and are currently reviewing applications and hope to be conducting interviews for these positions soon.
Andrew Owen of Student and Community Engagement is the advisor for this program and is there to help navigate the Student Senate.
“We’re trying to get off the ground and do good things,” Owen said.
Kyle Ashburn is the first and current President of Student Senate. He represents the business and IT community at Sinclair.
Forrest Wilson represents the STEM community and serves as the Vice President of the senate. The Mason campus representative Diamond M. Woodson also acts as the Secretary of the senate.
Their hope is to initiate change through students at the college. There is a drop box in the Student and Community Engagement office for students to anonymously voice their suggestions to the Student Senate. There is also an online drop box.
Ashburn said this program is “to make sure students have a voice here on campus”
When asked about his hopes for the future of the Student Senate, Ashburn said “I’d like to see more student engagement.”
“It’s to give students a chance to engage with their school,” Ashburn said “Maybe students that never thought of themselves as pursuing a leadership role in their previous schooling, I think we should give them that opportunity here at Sinclair.”
Kali Macklin
Reporter