Students Elect Scopinich SGA President
By: Janice D. Hayes
Last week Penn State Hazleton stu
dents elected Dave Scopinich, president of the
Student Government Association for the 1994-
95 academic year, along with running mate
Jackie Hamilton. Scopinich is a freshman at the
Hazleton Campus majoring in Mass Commu
nications, and lives in South Hall at the cam
pus.
Though an large amount of campaign
ing by his campaign manager, Eric Carlson;
and loyal supporters Scopinich received the
largest voter turnout in about 15 years. He says
this success is due to the popularity of all the
three candidates. Also this turnout shows how
each candidate was veiy qualified and that
anyone of them would do a good job.
Scopinich plans to implement a variety
of new and innovative things, such as, a weekly
newsletter for off-campus students, which will
include a survey to see if their SGA is dealing
Future Leaders Prepare For Next Semester
by: Jovina Johnson
April 9 and 10 marked another year in
a more than fifty year tradition; the Split Rock
Leadership Conference. Representatives from
most of the twenty-six clubs participated
along with the Counselor Education
Speakers included Dwayne Hilton, CyFalatko,
Paula Gallery, Dan Darrow, and Director of
Student Affairs Dean Joseph McCallus. Stu
dent Government President Joe Spado also
spoke on two pertinent subjects.
Students departed the campus at 8:00
and arrived at the resort at around 9:00. After
a short introduction by Hilton and Falatko, the
conference then begun. From 10 in the morn
ing to 9:30 that night, students learned how to
build teams, raise money for their clubs, etc.
Students were given the opportunity to partici
pate in workshops that allowed them to invent
clubs and then advertise them.
A few of the workshops were trans
ferred into feedback discussions and the stu
dents then expressed their concerns on cam
pus. For example, one of these concerns was
funding for varsity sports. Many questions
were answered and the workshop ended with
students feeling they had influence on the
student body.
with the things that are most important to the
campus. For the residence hall students he
plans for the former residence hall club to
become more active by utilizing the floor gov
ernors more and having frequent hall meetings
in each residence area. Scopinich also plans to
have a student suggestion box located outside
the SGA office in the lower commons.
In the past year a heavy issue that has
struck the student body is academic advising.
When asked if he planned to keep the issue
going Scopinich said yes. Another problem
that he will attack is the problems with the
Hazleton campus bong the center for sopho
more communication students bong that they
only have one class. He feels that since it is
supposed to be the hub for communication
students they should offer more than one class.
He said he will soon be meeting with Dr.
Aurand to discuss the situation.
The next to the last workshop was a
presentation on the ‘ ‘hassles ofleadership” by
Joe Spado. During his talk, the Acuity left so
he* could talk openly. Club representatives
learned a little something on each Acuity mem
ber in the chain of command. They were also
instructed on which route to take when they
had a complaint. This valuable information is
good Sar any student regardless of whether
they are in a club or not. This ended with a
conclusion by former Head of Senate Janice
Hayes. She emphasized the Act that one thing
that all Acuities members demand is respect.
This is the only way that anything could get
done and plus they had earned that respect.
The final workshop that day was pre
sented by Dan Darrow head ofßesidence Life.
This presentation was entitled Cultural Diver
sity. The students were given situations about
homosexuality, race, and political correctness.
Eventually, it turned into a full-fledged debate
with many different pointsofview beingvoiced.
“I think the University should stress the indi
vidual as opposed to the grouping that political
correctness causes,” said Student Govern
ment President Joe Spado.
This ended around 9:30 which left the
Scopinich wants to work with the fac
ulty, staff, and administration and get some
positive things going for the campus. He wants
the students to become more involved with the
community and plans to work with the Univer
sity Relations office in achieving that goal.
When Scopinich supporters were asked
why they voted for him they said because they
thought his ideas were clear and realistic for
the campus. Janel Murphy, student said, “Dave
shows alot of promise and even though I won’t
be here next year I wish him alot of luck, I have
fait that he will do a great job.”
Scopinich would like to thank Erick
Carlson, Dave Ledbury, and Roger Andras for
their support and helping him hang up signs at
4:3oin the morning. He also thanks Slushie and
Turk for their continuous support, and most of
all the campus for their continuous support.
students with an endless amount of free time.
Students could be seen laughing and talking as
they traveled from villa to villa. Many others
took out their swim suits and relaxed in their
own private hot tubs. On average, students hit
the bed at 3:30. ‘ ‘My favorite part of free time
was lounging in my own personal hot tub. It
was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening,”
commented Collegian representative Kristen
Beam.
The next day consisted of three more
workshops. Among other things, students
learned how to plan the events they wanted for
the 1994-95 school year. The students con
tributed many ideas concerning such holidays
as Halloween and Black History Month. The
final workshop was presented by Spado and
Dean McCallus. They advised the students on
how to utilize the campus to their best advan
tage.
In the end, students evaluated the en
tire weekend and then departed for Penn State.
“I enjoyed the exercises and I feel that every
body made a lot of new friends,” said Coun
selor Education representative, Michelle
Zagata. Hopefully, each student learned some
thing and feel the conference was worthwhile.