Olinda Ricard, culinary arts and business management senior from Baton Rouge, and Ron Sapia, government junior from Raceland, won the positions of Student Government Association president and vice president for the 2006-2007 academic year by acclamation.Ricard, a non-traditional student, said that as the new SGA president, she is excited to be breaking misconceptions about students like herself.
“I feel that I am helping to overrule the assumption that non-traditional students are not interested in campus life,” Ricard said. “Many non-traditional students are seeking to make the most of this experience, as I am.”
Both Ricard and Sapia said they were surprised that no one ran against them.
Ricard said that she could look at the situation in two ways: either people did not want to run against her, or “people just don’t care.” However, Ricard said that she disagrees with the latter.
“People are aware that if you want to be a good leader for SGA, you have to commit the time to fit into your schedule,” Ricard said. “It’s a lot of work; it’s not an easy position. People are very critical of you as a leader on campus.”
Sapia said that although he is excited about not having to “worry about a campaign,” on the other hand, he is passionate about campaigning.
“I love to campaign, meet new students and talk about student issues,” Sapia said.
Ricard has previously held the SGA positions of chair of finance, senator-at-large, culinary senator, vice president pro-tempore and currently is vice president. In other organizations, she is the vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at Nicholls, is a co-founder of the non-traditional student organization and is serving as the chairperson for the multi-cultural committee for the Student Programming Association.
Sapia has served as SGA senator-at-large, chairperson for the Judiciary Committee and vice president pro-tempore.
Ricard said that although the students “most likely already know everything about her,” she wants the students to know that she is approachable, “down-to-earth” and welcomes criticism.
“I’m willing to speak to any and everybody about anything,” Ricard said. “I love to hear everyone’s ideas because I can come up with a better solution.”
Sapia said he does not know of anything that students do not already know about him.
“I’m a government nerd, but I think a lot of people know that,” Sapia said.
As far as changes for the upcoming year, Ricard said she wants to examine the “internal structure of SGA” in order to be a more united board.
“I want us to assure that we allow ourselves time for necessary research so we can tackle problems better and more efficiently,” Ricard said.
Sapia said that SGA needs to “hold the University accountable” for the completion dates of projects, such as the recreation center and the cafeteria renovations, by working with the administration to “continue to move forward for the betterment of the Nicholls community.”
Sapia also said that he would like to “re-examine the structure of SGA” by looking at SGA’s governing documents.
“In some aspects the constitution ties our hands,” Sapia said. “The less it ties our hands, SGA can represent the students better.”
Ricard said that one thing she would like to see improved upon next year is better communication between students, faculty and student organizations. Solutions to this problem, Ricard said, could possibly be re-establishing student organization mailboxes and increasing awareness of student activities in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union.
