\nThe Troy Record \/ Sept. 10, 2023<\/p>\n
TROY, N.Y. \u2014 Hudson Valley Community College\u2019s Student Senate works hard to promote new ideas, organize events and activities, advocate for student needs, and increase engagement, and leaders Ameera Aftab, Lukas Donaghue, Sean Sampler, and Zaid Shehzad, have ambitious plans for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.<\/p>\n
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One of the Senate leaders\u2019 first priorities is to expand awareness of campus resources, events, and activities.<\/p>\n
According to a press release, they hope to promote the college\u2019s many helpful resources, such as the Center for Academic Engagement, which provides academic coaching; the Center for Access and Assistive Technology, which assists qualified students with disabilities; and the Learning Assistance Center, which offers group or one-on-one tutoring. Taking advantage of these and all other academic support centers can be tremendously helpful and beneficial for students, they said.<\/p>\n
The Senate leaders emphasized that students have many opportunities to participate in clubs and events on campus as well. In an effort to promote those opportunities and keep the campus community updated, they plan to talk one-on-one with students and faculty, collaborate on outreach with The Hudsonian, and be more active on the college\u2019s social media pages.<\/p>\n
They also expressed plans to host more community and sporting events and allow students to choose or suggest other activities by holding a voting process.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents may not realize that they pay an activities fee each year. We want them to utilize it, so it\u2019s our job to offer events that everyone will want to participate in,\u201d Aftab explained. They also plan to reach online students by inviting them to campus for these opportunities and offering more fully online activities, such as trivia.<\/p>\n
All of the Senate leaders make it clear that, along with all other plans, they have a universal goal of representing and advocating for their peers. \u201cWe hope to be a voice for all students of the campus community,\u201d Donaghue expressed. \u201cAny decision we make is on behalf of the students. We want to continue the work we\u2019ve been doing and continue to help as much as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
All four leaders are excited for the upcoming semester to begin and look forward to serving Hudson Valley on behalf of the students.<\/p>\n
Aftab, Student Senate president, is a Liberal Arts and Sciences: Communications (Media) student with plans to graduate in May. Her hard work led her to be elected as student trustee on the college\u2019s Board of Trustees for this academic year, and she is also completing an internship at a local marketing firm. As for Student Senate, Aftab was eager to run for a lead role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very passionate about student government and advocacy,\u201d she said. \u201cI love advocating for students and all higher education, and I think student input is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donaghue, Student Senate treasurer, is a senior majoring in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a concentration in economics, a minor in sustainability, and an interest in investing. As someone who admittedly looks for any opportunity to have an impact, Donaghue was especially motivated to run for Student Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we make small steps every day to help students on campus?\u201d he asked. Through his dedication, Donaghue hopes to have a positive influence on the Student Senate\u2019s objectives and achieve his own personal goals to graduate and find a good career.<\/p>\n
Business Administration student, Sampler, is vice president of the Student Senate. Outside of school, he loves to play guitar, tennis, and video games. As a goal-oriented leader, Sampler hopes to see success through his own academics and in the efforts of the Student Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect to be doing this,\u201d Sampler said. \u201cHudson Valley just has so many opportunities, helpful resources and personal connections which have empowered me to become a part of the Student Senate.\u201d It\u2019s all about \u201cdoing for others what they have done for you\u201d and \u201cmaking a difference wherever you go,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Shehzad, Student Senate secretary, is a Computer Information Systems student. His positive enthusiasm influenced him to participate in a local soup kitchen project and run student clubs, including the Muslim Student Association (MSA). Looking ahead at the school year, he hopes to get good grades, graduate, and find ways to be more involved in the community.<\/p>\n
Through the Senate\u2019s initiatives, Shehzad hopes to continue to make the campus a better place. \u201cI thought it would be really fun,\u201d he said when discussing his inspiration to run for Student Senate.<\/p>\n
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Published:<\/strong>\u00a0Tue, 12 Sep 2023 11:45:09 +0000 by\u00a0d.gardner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HVCC Student Senate leaders set goals for new school year The Troy Record \/ Sept. 10, 2023 TROY, N.Y.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}