Welcome back to another great semester. While many of our friends were not able to join us for another one, we need to make the most of the time that we have here at Sam. As we all return from break and start our new semester, your Student Government is back to work with University and City officials. Winter is the season of leggings, sweaters, and Chap Stick and January is SGA’s month of City Relations. We all seek greater harmony with the local community, but this is a goal that can’t be made without wide spread effort. This month we are going to be organizing a City Council Town Hall meeting for students to voice their concerns directly to City Officials. I will also start working on organizing efforts to get an election polling place at SHSU.
While we continue to work with City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and the Office of the City Manager to build infrastructure and cooperation to benefit the Student Population at Sam Houston State University we need each student to do what they can in our community. I challenge you all to find time in our busy lives to give back to the City of Huntsville and Walker County. To build more trust and faith between the entities in our community we do not need large efforts or major changes. The small efforts that individuals take to build friendship is often enough to build unity. Find time to volunteer, find time to give back, find time to make friendships. Later this month the sixth annual Bearkat All Paws In will open up registration. We ask that you take one Saturday this semester to stand with other Bearkats as we change our perception in this community.
Huntsville is a growing community and the student population is becoming an increasingly important facet. Reach out to your local officials and encourage them to take a stand on issues that are important to you. They will not take efforts to fix problems they do not know exist. As your Student Government Association works to increase cooperation with City Officials to bring benefits to students, let us all bond together to change how we are viewed in this community. We are important to Huntsville and we need to become an active part of this community.
As outlined in November’s address SGA focused on creating a “better campus for you”. The efforts that were started then are now leading into bigger change. Bike Day led us to envision new possibilities for transportation on campus and across the state. We will now be trying to establish safer, better, biking routes around the City of Huntsville as well as making bikes and bike racks more accessible. We have even been working on establishing high speed rail for Texans in this State. Friday January 16 at 3 pm we will have your student representative speak at the SouthWestern Rail Conference in Dallas. We encourage you all to view the live stream from Dallas at www.eehour.com this Friday. We want to help make your life better here in Huntsville and out in the State of Texas. If there is anything else that we can do to fight for you please come to LSC 326 and speak to your representatives or our meetings Tuesday nights at 6:30 in LSC 320.
– Spencer Copeland
