The Student Government Association is accepting applications for the president of the 2023-2024 academic year. The SGA President is responsible for representing the student body, and college, within the USG. The position comes with many opportunities for networking, experience and learning the ins and outs of the internal college structure.

Any student aspiring to be SGA President should apply by Feb. 23 with the online form sent through student email. Applicants will meet with the SGA President Campaign Committee leading up to the deadline to present their reasons for wanting to become president and what they can bring to the student body.

Members of the SGA President Campaign Committee are as follows: Student Engagement Coordinator and SGA Faculty Adviser, Clifton Puckett, Student Engagement Assistant, Madison Signoret, Cartersville Library Assistant and Equality Alliance Faculty Adviser, Brittany Ozmore and current SGA President, April Cole.

SGA President nominees can begin their campaigning on March 1. They are permitted to create their own posters, flyers and brochures to hang and distribute across each campus. Nominees can also send campaigning information to Puckett through [email protected] to email all students.

There will be a meet and greet for nominees that is projected to be the week of March 13. Students will have the chance to get to know the nominees, ask questions about their vision for GHC and how they intend to make it a reality.

Voting will be from March 27 to March 30 and there will be voting booths with iPads set up inside each campus library. An online option is also available through the SGA Elections page on the GHC website.

According to the Student Organizations webpage, “The primary purpose of the SGA is to serve as the voice of the student body and act as a liaison between students and college administration in order to help formulate just and proper regulations pertaining to student government and to assist those persons designated to enforce the regulations.”

Signoret has been working closely with the SGA, learning about how it runs and what advantages it brings to students.

“It’s a chance for students to gather in one central location that represents different interests or different clubs,” Signoret said. She added that every active club participates in SGA, and “it gives all of those clubs a chance to meet and coexist and figure out a way for SGA to come about with new rules and regulations.”

Puckett said the SGA President is the face of the student body. They will meet with VIPs, represent the college as the student voice and speak at graduation ceremonies. The future SGA President will be able to add their experience in these types of tasks to their resume.

“Anyone who has aspirations to run for an office one day… especially the campaign process, because you have to kind of talk to people and win their favor,” Puckett said.

Former SGA President, Labeeba Shafique, did not have plans to run for an SGA position upon applying to GHC after graduating high school. She said she was welcomed by her professors and classmates and wanted to be more involved with the college after working as an orientation leader for PTK.

“It made me really glad that I was in the position where I can make decisions for students and help to embody, but also very scared because it’s a grand role,” Shafique said. She added that meeting with other SGA presidents at the Student Advisory Council Summer Conference made her realize how grateful she was to be in the position.

Signoret said that some advantages of being in the SGA are networking, teamwork, representation and opportunities. However, it is a role that holds a lot of responsibility.

“Sometimes we’ll have professors reach out to work with SGA. And if that’s the case, the president will be the one representing SGA and it is a great opportunity to network,” Signoret said. “Learning those responsibilities, taking the role of leadership; but my biggest benefit that I see is opportunities, 100%.”

Shafique said that the SGA president needs to know the student body to understand their needs.

“Our student body is diverse. And some of the challenges that other students will be facing might not necessarily be yours,” Shafique said. “But you really need to go out there to know the students and your school and know their needs, and how can you facilitate their college journey better from a president’s position…”

She added that the SGA President has the power to make real change within the college, and even USG, as they are connected to higher positions such as the college provost, the vice president and the president.

“Once you’re in the position, you can really use your creativity and your ingenuity to bring new ideas into campus and implement new plans,” Shafique said.

Shafique said that anyone that wants to try for SGA President should.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but in order to be great, you have to start.”

Additional information and questions can be requested from [email protected].