As Student Government Association and Student Programming Association elections grow near, the top leaders of both organizations reflect on their time in office and offer advice to potential candidates.

SGA president Brittany Taraba said she feels the organization has gotten a lot done during her time in office, with the organization getting multiple projects established, such as the Spirit Award  that was established during the fall semester to increase student attendance at University atheletic events. Senators are also working to get more involved with their respective colleges, and the organization has helped many other campus groups by allocating money for things such as supplies or equipment.

“Hopefully we can keep the momentum going through the rest of the semester, and I hope the next executive board does the same thing as well,” Taraba said.

Taraba said her biggest accomplishment is the future rec center. She spent much of her summer in Baton Rouge, working with local officials to finalize building plans, and the University finally saw the ground breaking during the fall semester.

“It’s been a decade in the works, but it finally got done,” Taraba said. “It’s a pretty big step.”

She said she was promised a rec center her freshman year and never saw it materialize. She made it a personal goal to get it done.

“It was one of those things where I said, ‘Before I leave here, I want a rec center,’ so it’s all really exciting for me.”

Before her term is up, Taraba said she would like to figure out a way to make students more responsive to the SGA and keep up the fight against budget cuts. She would also like to get some awareness out about the LOUIS System, a statewide online datebase for library documents. The program, which permits several local colleges to share documents, will become exponentially more expensive for the University if it is cut from the budget.

Taraba said she wants potential candidates to consider how much they want to be a leader before deciding to run.

“It’s really not something you can or should do as a resume builder,” Taraba said. “There’s so much time and energy involved in it, and it’s something you have to have an absolute passion for.”

She also wants potential candidates to know they have to be prepared for every possible situation that could happen.

“Be ready to be able to deal with whatever comes at you. I don’t walk into any day knowing how it’s going to turn out because I’m frequently getting phone calls for meetings or I have to go to Baton Rouge at the last minute. You have to know beforehand that you’re going to be dedicated to doing it.”

SGA vice president John Lombardo’s time in office has been one of personal growth.

“I feel like it’s been a great learning experience. I’ve learned a lot from all the people I’ve interacted with,” Lombardo said.

The organization has achieved a lot, Lombardo said, but the most rewarding part of it as has been seeing the transformation of the Student Senate.

“The atmosphere of the Senate is welcoming now. Everyone respects everyone, and it’s like a big family.”

Before relinquishing his vice presidential title, Lombardo hopes to get the Senate more actively involved in issues surrounding the University.

“Issues like redistricting, budget cuts and the LOUIS System are at our doorstep. I hope we can all take an active role in these things because it’s very important to how the school is funded.”

Lombardo’s advice for those seeking upcoming leadership roles is to come in with a positive attitude and learn from everything.

“Come in with an attitude to do good and take in as much as you can because it’s a great experience.”

Sarita Jones, SPA president, said her time in office, though time consuming, has been a wonderful experience. She has encountered many great people, and the contacts she has made have made the work worthwhile.

The executive board backing her up, Jones said, has made her job as president a lot easier. With the board by her side, events such as Comedy Night, Alive at Five and the Homecoming dance, were a huge success.

“I’m so proud of the work they’ve done and the events we’ve been able to put on,” Jones said. “Without them, none of it would have happened.”

For possible candidates, Jones said it is important to establish relationships with the organization’s members. She also shared Taraba’s thoughts on being prepared for every situation.

“Try to stay one step ahead all the time. Things could turn for the best or turn for the worst so you need to be prepared for both situations. You need to brace yourself for the ride.”

Jones’ second in command, SPA vice president Johnathan Lynch, said he feels good about his time because the organization has had a great group of people working to put on events for students.

One of those events, Comedy Night, is the function that really stands out for Lynch.

“That was probably our most successful event of the school year. Almost 400 people came out for it, and after having our star comedian drop out on us and still having the same number of people attend that we were aiming for is huge.”

The vice president said he is hoping for a successful Crawfish Day but his goals for the rest of the semester are more personal.

“I just want to finish out my term on a good note. It’s a little hard sometimes to want to put forth the effort just because it is my last time here, but I want to see it all the way through and do the best I can.”

Lynch said anyone considering running for an SPA office, first and foremost, needs to be personable.

“You need to be able to talk to people and get people into it. That’s the great thing about SPA. If you’re having fun with it, people are going to want to have fun with you.”

Future leaders also need to have time to commit to the organization.

“You need to have adequate time to give to an event, that way you don’t have two or three events that are subpar. You want to have events that you put a lot of time and effort into, making sure they are good for students.”

Finally, future leaders need to be able to come up with ideas for activities and events and put them into action.

“It’s easy to say ‘we’d like to do this and we’d like to do this,’ but I encourage people to actually get stuff done.”

The deadline to submit nominations for both SGA and SPA is 4:30 p.m. on March 4. Anyone interested can pick a petition at the SGA office located in Suite 17 of the Student Union or at www.nicholls.edu/sga. Primary elections for both organizations will run from March 21-23 at noon.