I recently had the opportunity to spend one night and half of a day at a golf resort with a great organization. I can’t tell you just one great part about this weekend retreat because there are so many…so maybe I’ll just tell you all of them.Students, if you ever have the chance to be a part of SGA, don’t hesitate for a second to jump right in.During my first year at Sam Houston, I wasn’t really interested in politics, and anytime I heard the word government, I turned the other way. Having parents that were always politically-oriented made me want to hide from politics, but I’m glad I smartened up this fall semester. For a month and a half, I have been religiously going to meetings every Tuesday at 6 p.m. and I love it.This past weekend, SGA senators, freshman interns and aspiring senators received the opportunity to learn about parliamentary procedure, meet and speak with our university president, attend different seminars and learn more about our fellow members.It was the best time I’ve had in several weeks, and I kind of wished that we had stayed longer–it might have been more entertaining than the date I went on Saturday night.We arrived at the Waterwood Resort off of Highway 190, a little late, but we resumed with a great dinner with Dr. James Gaertner and Dr. Thelma Douglass and ended with a brief seminar.The night-time activities and ice breakers were the best part about the evening. We learned a lot about each other and I think in this case, it was really a great thing.Students always talk about having trust with one another and I think at our SGA retreat, we showed ourselves that it could be accomplished.We played a card game called Mafia for at least two hours. If anyone has ever played the game, you’ll know that it is a fun game and if you haven’t–ask someone. Basically, when everyone had to close their eyes, everyone did. That’s what was so cool about the game. We all trusted ourselves to play the game right and not cheat. That’s when it hit me. Everyone that attended the retreat started trusting one another; we became closer and maybe even became a close-knit family without knowing it.Besides waking at the crack of dawn, sitting through various seminars and getting home all teary-eyed from lack of sleep, I just wanted to thank the SGA officers and all of the students that went for making my weekend memorable.SGA is not just about passing resolutions and laws, meeting at late evening hours or completing office hours every week. SGA does so much more such as serving the student community in friendship and in professionalism. Some people may think that SGA is a geeky organization, or not a “cool” organization to be a part of. I see people’s opinions this way: If you didn’t take the time to research and vote, then you can’t complain about anything.If you don’t take the time to see what SGA has to offer you as a student, don’t complain about it. If you want to be a leader, then present yourself in that matter. SGA will only help you become a better one.
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