Welcome back!
After spending each of our summers in Manhattan, it is refreshing and exciting to see our campus and community bustling with so many fellow students. Our hope for the student body is that great and productive summers will be followed by equally positive fall semesters. We are pleased to report that our summer schedules consisted of working toward achieving the goals we set out to achieve when assuming these offices, as well as other tasks and obligations that arose and demanded attention from student leadership.
The progress that we have made in the area of mental wellness can be strongly represented by the work we have done in a collaborative effort between SGA and Counseling Services. We are working to help establish a peer education program that would spread the word about mental wellness, Counseling Services and the important resources available to Kansas State students. A curriculum is currently being developed for the course and members of our cabinet are working to develop programming to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental wellness.
We have continued to work on advancing our platform of a diverse and inclusive K-State, among students, faculty, staff and administration. We are collaborating with the Office of Diversity and the Office of Assessment to evaluate and expand on our classroom-based efforts toward diversity and inclusion. We are also partnering with the Office of Diversity to ensure that a multicultural student facility is a priority. Additionally, in partnership with multicultural student leaders, we are progressing on creating a student-centered strategic plan for diversity and inclusion that would intend to address systemic issues present on campus.
Finally, we have been working on our political advocacy platform during this election cycle to register, inform and encourage students to vote. This semester, we intend to share information regarding voter engagement and registration events intended to educate and mobilize our student body to civically engage in their political atmosphere. Budgets cuts at K-State and other institutions have consistently put Kansas higher education in difficult financial situations that hinder student success. This year, we intend to make every possible effort to advocate for student success to the state government.
Outside of our platform items, we continue to work with students and university administration on many different projects. We look forward to working in tandem with Dean Lori Goetsch of K-State Libraries to ensure that students have an adequate place to study during hours that work with a variety of student schedules. We have partnered with university, college and department leaders to refine and reform existing committees that we chair, such as the Tuition and Fees Strategies Committee, Educational Opportunity Fund and Student-Centered Tuition Enhancements, as we work to ensure that K-State is responsive to the the financial planning issues faced by institutions across Kansas. Relationships have also been established with dedicated individuals in the Staley School of Leadership Studies and the Office of Student Life as we begin to address food insecurity among students. We are passionate and excited to advocate and work on behalf of students this year.
We are here to represent and serve students and are always eager to hear from our peers! Always feel free to email us at jvanran@ksu.edu or tjken@ksu.edu. We appreciate any opportunity to connect with fellow students. Also, please follow us on twitter @KStateSBP_SBVP!
Go Cats!
Jessica Van Ranken, student body president
Trenton Kennedy, student body vice president
