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2 Lion’s Eye ‘&
Penn State University - Brandywine
September 23, 2008
WHATS NEW WITH THE SGA?
By Christina Felizzi
Editor-in-Chief
clf5050@psu.edu
. Brandywine’s Student Government Associ-
ation (SGA) has a slew of upcoming events planned
for the 2008 fall semester. The new semester also
brings in a new board of SGA members, including
the new President Ashley Wood along with her fel-
low trustees including Vice President Teron Meyers,
Secretary Brittany Walker, and Treasurer Bernice -
Irby. Equally important, SGA consists of four chair ;
positions consisting of Academic Affairs Chair
Rahel Teklegiorgis, Governmental Affairs Chair
Al Parks, Diversity Affairs Chair Paola Pedraza-
Rivera, and Student Affairs Chair Santeena Brown.
The four chairs oversee committees such as Public
Relations, headed up by Christina Furia, and Events
Coordinator Ashley Dinardo.
Our SGA is in good hands — working from
a clean slate, this year’s SGA members are working
extremely hard in efforts to build a sense of commu-
nity for the campus. “Since this is a commuter cam-
pus, I really want to see more student involvement,”
commented Paola Pedraza-Rivera, Diversity Affairs
Chair, sophomore and Cultural Anthropology major.
The Constitution Day open-forum celebra-
‘tion held on Wednesday, September 17th in the
Vairo Library amphitheater succeeded in attracting
as many as one hundred spectators and participants
alike. The event was organized by the STS (Science,
Technology and Society) group, the Honors Student
Organization and SGA. Dr. Laura Guertin, associ-
ate professor of Earth Sciences, wanted “to engage
students in discussion on an academic and scholarly
level outside of the classroom.”
Penn State junior and Communications
major Rahel Teklegiorgis, the Academic Affairs
Chair, wants to see students become more involved
with events outside of the classroom. When asked
about extracurricular activities students can engage
like EURECA are great ways for students to get
involved academically.”
The second Club Rush on Friday, Sep-
tember 19th in the Tomezko lounge attracted a fair
turnout of club promoters and club seekers. The
SGA sponsored a Rock the Vote banner to advance
their new voter registration drive on campus. The
drive is due to end on October 6th, the last day to
register for this year’s presidential election. Also,
MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Rock the Vote Tour
is scheduled to visit our campus Monday, Septem-
ber 22nd in the Lion’s Den during common hour to
inform and encourage students to vote.
The Penn State Brandywine formal dance,
cosponsored by the SGA and Black Student League
(BSL) will be held at the Springfield Country Club
on Friday, November 21st. The Mr. and Ms. Penn
State Pageant will be held simultaneously during
the formal. Tickets will be $30 per person and $50
per couple.
These events are Sony scratching the sur-
face of the numerous events SGA has planned for
_the semester. Vice President Teron Meyers, junior
and Communications major, not only wants to see
more students involved on campus, but also encour-
ages other clubs and organizations to work together.
“We want to host a lot more student-involvement-
based events where the clubs are working together
— I want to see a strong sense of unity for this
campus.”
In addition to the events, SGA wants to
hear feedback and ideas from all students. SGA
members want to engage the student body to make
the college experience as involved as possible.
SGA holds monthly “open meetings,” inviting the
students to come and voice their thoughts, as well
as receive an update on upcoming events for that
month. The next open meeting is on Tuesday, Oc-
tober 14th, in the Lion’s Den during common hour
— don’t miss it.
A Fresh Start
for Student Life
By Tiffany Ragins-Morris
Lion's Eye Staff Writer
tjr5073@psu.edu
The resignation of Chris Coia, Associate Director of
Student Affairs, and Dava Murray, Assistant Director of Student
Affairs, has left student life a bit overextended, but overall, student
programming has been fairing quite well.
- Deborah Erie, Director of Student and Enrollment Ser-
vices, says that patience is key as the hiring process is ongoing. Erie
is currently holding the position of Division Head of Student Life
and is hoping to hire the right person to take on the title. Dale Sor-
ing, Student Affairs Staff Assistant, says Brandywine has to take the
necessary time to hire the right person, looking for a highly quali-
fied person who will have new ideas, a fun personality, and concern
for the students on the campus.
Erie, along with the combined efforts of Soring, Diane
Shorter, Student Affairs Specialist, Jim Gastner, Athletic Director,
and many more dedicated faculty, staff, and students, has managed
much success of freshmen orientation, Grill and Chill, Fresh Mesh,
and Convocation events. With the loss in staff, Shorter agrees that
events have been hectic, but she believes that everyone is still work-
ing toward a common goal.
“Every event will be as positive of an experience for stu-
dents as possible,” she says. She added that before Coia and Murray
left Brandywine, all the events for the fall and some events for the
| spring were in place.
Students have been active in making the campus experi-
ence the best for everyone. New clubs were represented at Club
Rush this year, SGA been running strong, and the Student Activities
Fund (SAF) was business as usual at their meeting on September
Oth.
Erie’s hope for Student Life this year is upbeat. “We will
always strive for a vibrant and alive campus, to feel like its college,
like its Penn State.” With clubs and organizations underway and the
hiring process almost complete, Penn State Brandywine is off to a
solid start.
in, Rahel advised “lectures and student events : : : :
Student Leadership Conference: Brandywine Leading the Way
By Teron Meyers
Lion's Eye Staff Writer
tam5086@psu.edu
This past summer Penn State Bran-
dywine students attended the Student Leader-
ship Conference at University Park to hone
their skills as leaders of our campus.
Every year Penn State University
sponsors an annual leadership conference
to help train students in different clubs and
organizations such as Student Government
Association (SGA), THON, and so on. The
conference was held at Penn State Univer-
sity Park from August 13th to August 15th.
Those present from Brandywine were myself,
Santeena Brown, Christina Felizzi, Al Parks,
Paola Pedraza-Rivera, Brittney Walker, and
Ashley Wood, all leaders of different clubs/
organizations here on this campus.
The range of participants at this
event was across the University common-
‘community service project done outside of
~ University Park. The goal of the activity was
that civic engagement is important for student
leaders to take part in. Each pride group had
a different, unknown project to participate
in. My service project was entitled, “Spe-
cial Olympics,” so my pride group assumed
direct assistance with participants. Contrast
to belief, our project was not working with
children, and instead we were responsible for
cleaning storage space for the event. It taught
us that situations are not always as they seem.
The last day consisted of final breakout ses-
sions, meeting time with our pride groups, and
the Pop Culture Clash quiz game. The night
‘before was a special Penn State Pride Dinner
for all the campuses, an event that consisted
of each campus representing themselves with
chants and trivia — Brandywine, even though
the one of the smaller and younger campuses,
was the loudest table at the conference.
. ~~ The Penn State Leadership Conference was
wealth. The campuses that were present
besides Brandywine were: Abington, Berks, Mont Alto,
York, and the list goes on. Although those present were
from every corner of Pennsylvania, the goal was to unite
one another to gain a greater perspective of leadership.
Each day of the conference had a different agen-
~ da. The first day everyone was divided into pride groups
mixed with students from different campuses - it was
freshmen orientation all over again. This process allowed
individuals to become comfortable with new people,
which is common in the atmosphere of leadership.
Photo courtesy of Paola Pederza-Rivera
Afterwards, informative breakout sessions took place
that focused on specific skills to take back to the campus
such as “Owning the Pride,” “THON and Your Organiza-
tion,” and “Diversity: The Card Party.” Each day hosted
different breakout sessions, all with the goal to get people
to communicate, work together to solve conflicts and
develop strategies. :
The second day of the conference involved a
a memorable and educational experience.
But what did those there think? Brittney Walker said, “I
didn’t know what to expect as a leader, but now I am very
confident.” Christina Felizzi expressed similar thoughts
saying, “the whole conference experience caused me to
come out of my comfort zone and it taught me a great
deal about myself too.” Truly this conference is accom-
plishing its goal for student leaders but the only way
for you to know if it’s working is getting involved on
‘campus.