Student Government Association vice presidential candidates Tierra Anthony, government junior from Port Barre, and John Lombardo, government junior from New Jersey, discussed their qualifications and plans for the position after Monday’s Senate meeting.
NW: What previous experience do you have with SGA?
TA: “I was senator my freshman year and half my sophomore year. I also chaired the finance committee when I was an SGA senator. I received the Outstanding Senator Award. It prepared me for my position because by attending the meetings as a senator, I learned more. I didn’t have to be as active. I got to listen more.”
JL: “I was a freshman senator. I was a finance committee chair this year for the spring semester. I served on the judicial committee also for my whole time in the Senate. This semester I was elected as pro temp. That’s a step below the vice president. If the vice president would ever have to be absent, I would take her place. In order to be pro temp you have to know the rules and be able to run the meetings.”
NW: What other experiences make you a good candidate?
TA: “I have worked with people since I’ve been in college. I was the co-chair of the homecoming committee that was working with students and their concerns. I also worked in the Student Union for two years. I have worked with housing during the summer. I have done a lot of different things on campus actually working with students. I know some of their concerns that are from the past that haven’t been taken care of. I’m a really good student people person.”
JL: “I have led certain organizations already. I started up the Nicholls State Circle K, which is a service organization on campus. This was our first year, and we had a convention in Baton Rouge for Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. I was able to lead our club to be the most award-winning in the three state areas. I have also had leadership positions in my fraternity, Kappa Sigma. I feel I have proved myself not only in these other organizations that I’m capable of leading but also in the senate.”
NW: What changes would you make to the current SGA?
TA: “SGA has come a long way since I was a senator. They’re on the right track. The improvements I would make would be the image. They want students to read the minutes and see what we do. SGA is not like SPA, where you see where everything is done. It’s kind of like behind the scenes. We actually do work. We actually take the time out and care about their concerns.”
JL: “We have senators, but I want to train them better. I want to make sure that every senator that’s serving on the senate is not just a number. I want to make sure they know what to do and how to do it. I want to have more meetings and more training for senators where they can learn how to do their job. I want to do a mentoring program. New senators will have someone who is experienced in front of them, teaching them the ways and making them feel comfortable in the senate.”
NW: What has SGA been doing right?
TA: “The [executive] board members are way more qualified than when I was a senator. They seem like they know their jobs. They get things done, especially the [director of] Students Rights and Grievances. I always hear good things about her. They should keep the training programs because, when I was a senator, we didn’t have any kind of training. We just learned on our own.”
JL: “They should keep the concentration on building up the senate and make sure we have a solid senate. The senate is the core of the operations, and what they’re doing is continuing to ensure that we can do business and help out the students that way. We have to keep in mind to always keep a strong Senate because with a strong Senate comes a strong E-board and a strong student government. When you’re trained in the Senate, you know how the Senate works.
NW: What do you think students want out of SGA?
TA: “I think the students want more answers to their questions that they can actually see, the rec. center for example. They want to know where their money is going. At the [town hall] meeting, they mentioned minority scholarships not being given out. There are a lot of scholarships that are being given out, people just don’t know about them. I think students are just mainly concerned about things that they don’t actually see. When I was a member of SGA, we had constant meetings with administrative people here at Nicholls. That’s not something the students see. I think students want to see an outcome.”
JL: “I think it’s the overall college experience. I want to better student life. When you improve student life, give them more activities and promote different activities by offering different things from the SGA, you create a different atmosphere. By improving student life, you make Nicholls completely better and you get more people staying at school and becoming more active.”
NW: What makes you a better candidate than your opponent?
TA: “My dedication. When I dedicate my time and my mind to something, I really put my all into it. When I was in SGA, it consumed me. SGA was my life. I take a lot of pride in what I do.”
JL: “My experience. I have been in the recent Senate. I’m understanding to how the Senate operates right now. I’m the senator pro temp, right under [vice president] Brittany Taraba. I’m able to fulfill her duties if need be.”
NW: How would you increase student participation in the SGA?
TA: “Incentives. Everybody wants a freebie, some kind of incentive to encourage them. Students are really busy this semester. I find this semester more hectic than previous ones, and a lot of students don’t have the time to sit down during or after school hours to come to meetings. Have something during the day, and have an incentive to go along with it.”
JL: “I would try to get each student motivated. I saw at the town hall meeting, students were motivated about the rec. center and the smoking policy. They came out because they were motivated. The key is to give students enough information where they feel a need, a cause or some reason to stand up. I want to give people the information they need to get motivated. When they’re motivated, they’re going to voice their opinions.”
NW: What are the major issues students are concerned about?
TA: “The main issue was the internet issue. Another issue is parking. It’s really hard to find parking if you come anytime after 7:30. The pool is part of the summer camps and for the University to tell students to use the La Maison pool is kind of a huge down-size from the other pool. That’s going to be a major concern because it’s starting to get hot, and the pool is open from April until September.”
JL: “It’s the same problems over again. You hear parking, but there is a solution out there. It’s been looked at. The vice president has gone out and found some answers for it. It’s getting the answers to these problems out to the students. The parking problem is a five-minute walk across campus. The rec. center has solutions to it to. More pluses than negatives.
