With a new UVUSA council comes a new constitution, and this year they are focusing on student awareness and involvement.
Their slogan, “We’ll listen and make it happen,” is what they are striving for. They want the students to know they are here and can come to them with anything that’s on their mind.
“A lot of people don’t know what UVUSA is,” Jono Andrews, student body president, said.
UVUSA’s goal is to make the students more aware of the student association and what kind of opportunities there are.
In addition to increasing visibility, the UVUSA student officers are working towards having better transparency with the students.
Andrews believes that in the past years most students have mainly connected UVUSA with all the events on campus. This year the biggest change is that students should know UVUSA does more than planning events.
The 2013-2014 UVUSA has a more diverse council than previous years, and they believe this is going to help them become better at communicating with the students. A diverse council will bring more diverse decisions to the table, which will hopefully lead to a better student voice.
To accomplish what they want, UVUSA has five goals to guide them. These goals are to focus on simplicity, collaboration, passion, opportunity and efficiency. They try to use at least two of these focuses in everything they do.
The student association wants all the students to be involved.
“I can’t push this enough, being involved will change their entire college experience,” Andrews said.
Before the student association decides on anything, they will always try to find out what the students want. They plan to conduct surveys or use social media to find out if the events they are planning is going to be something the majority of students on campus will enjoy.
Another goal is for the students to approve of what UVUSA does. Students are supposed to feel pride for their school and show school spirit.
“We want to see more UVU stuff,” Andrews said. “[Students] should not be wearing other school’s clothes.”
Debbie Burroughs, Fine Arts Chair, helps plan the events for the Art Department and said publicity is important because that’s how the students will find out about the events.
“People won’t remember what you do or what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel,” Burroughs said. “We want the students to have the best outcome.”
Shalee Allen, a UVU student, said she thinks UVUSA is doing a good job. “There is more student involvement this year.” Having the students involved is what makes all the events and other things happen.
UVUSA could not do everything they do if it wasn’t for all the volunteers and involvement from the students.
UVUSA has to save money in order to do what they do, and Jono said this is something they are trying to do as much as possible. “We’re trying to do our best with what we have.”
UVUSA is a place where students work to make UVU better.
There are a lot of different ways students can participate with UVUSA. And by being a part of UVUSA, students will not only create a better place for their fellow students, but they will also learn many valuable skills for the future.
