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The returning University of Houston-Victoria Student Senate members are
looking forward to expanding the work they started in 2008-2009 representing the
student body at the university.
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| Nicole Garcia |
“I feel like,
as a whole last year, we were able to work together as a team and get the
Student Senate's name out there a little more,”
said Nicole Garcia, who just
took over as the 2009-2010 Student Senate vice president after serving as the
secretary last school year. “Now we will have the opportunity to interact with
the student body even more and find out how we can help them.”
The new
Student Senate was inducted late last month and will hold its first meeting of
the year at 2 p.m. July 22 in Room 110 of the UHV University Center, 3007 N. Ben
Wilson St. Students are encouraged to attend.
Senate
members serve the collective interest of the UHV student body by promoting
communication between students and UHV administration, said Janet Foerster, who
is the Senate'
s adviser and works in UHV Student Services. Members meet twice a
month and also participate in fundraising events and community service projects.
“I think this
will be an exciting year,”
she said. “Several of the Senate members are
returning, and I know the new president, Erik Garino, will do a good job.”
Garino served
as a senator at large last year, and is excited about his new role as president.
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| Erik Garino |
“It's going
to be challenging for me, but I'm looking forward to it,”
he said.
Garino is
working on three degrees from UHV: a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences, and
bachelor's degrees in biology and psychology. He also expects to receive an
associate degree in nursing from The Victoria College in December.
Garino said
he wants this year's Senate to carry on events that were new last year such as
New Student Orientation to welcome students to UHV in the fall and Student
Organization Day in the spring. Student Organization Day featured food, games
and music provided by different UHV student organizations.
He also said
the Senate will start some new traditions. He would like to begin a high school
mentoring program to allow Senate members to meet with and tutor Memorial High
School students.
“I'd like to
be a model for them and encourage them to go on to college,”
he said.
Garcia, an
interdisciplinary studies major at UHV, said she would like to spend time this
year building relationships with the other UHV student organizations and
preparing for the expected addition of freshmen and sophomores in the fall of
2010.
“We can
really use this time to work together and get ready to begin a new, exciting
chapter for UHV,”
she said.
The other
returning Senate members are Whitney Damborsky, graduate senator from the School
of Arts & Sciences, and Shauna Sullivan, graduate senator from the School of
Business Administration.
The new senators and their titles are as follows:
- Brandi Reyes, secretary
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Ruston Raybon, treasurer
-
Elizabeth Martinez,
undergraduate senator, School of Arts & Sciences
-
Janice Johnson, undergraduate
senator, School of Education & Human Development
-
Marianna Measom, graduate
senator, School of Nursing
-
Claire McGee, senator at
large, Victoria
-
Archie Garino, senator at
large, Victoria
This is the first school year that the School of Nursing has had representation
on the Student Senate because the nursing program did not become a school until
December of 2007.
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