The Winona State University Student Senate election polls are now open for voting. These elections take place every fall and spring semester, but this semester is different—there are many more open seats than usual, creating the opportunity for a fresh wave of new voices to be heard across campus.
Third-year student Sophia Crowe is the president of Student Senate. She has been a member of Student Senate for the past two years and has been the president since this past spring. She said, “Freshman me was looking for a way to get involved…which is why I joined. But then once I joined and fell in love with it, I grew to really like the people. And so that’s why I stuck with it after I joined.”
She recommends joining student senate to anyone considering it—according to Crowe, the most rewarding part of being a part of senate is “having conversations about real stuff that’s happening on campus and getting to be a part of it. It feels like our voices are actually heard, which is helpful and important.”
While Student Senate is definitely a commitment it comes with varying levels of work to be done. “You can really take on as much or as little as you’d like with senate,” said Crowe. Members have the opportunity just to fulfill the tasks delegated to their position, or they can join other committees as well.
Second-year student Brooklyn Bothe is a great example of how far one can take Student Senate. While she holds the Junior chair position due to how many credits she has, as well as the Academic Affairs chair, she also is a member of the Student Activity Committee, Judicial Committee, and Student Fee Committee. Bothe notes that an interesting part of Student Senate is that senators have the freedom to work on things they are personally invested in.
“One thing with Academic Affairs is that I think our advising program can really improve on getting students through their outlines and their class schedules successfully without having so many bumps in the road,” said Bothe.
Bothe’s favorite thing about Student Senate is that “it’s really a community. I’ve met a ton of people, and just to know the faculty on campus is super cool…And knowing that, even if you don’t realize it, you are really helping people with what you’re doing.” She notes that, “It doesn’t really feel like work because I enjoy being there…it’s not that hard because almost everyone enjoys being there.”
Both senators express the importance of voting for incoming Student Senators. “Vote for people you think will actually enact meaningful change and do the most and represent student voices accurately,” Crowe advises. Because Student Senate has so much influence over what happens on campus, students should not only get involved with it by considering joining but should also voting for who they think would make the best representative for their class or college.
