Illinois State University’s Student Government Association (SGA) held its last meeting of the semester on Wednesday. It was the first meeting of the new association.New leadership positions were elected internally within the legislative branch. They also appointed three secretaries, four senators and confirmed five ex officio.Off-Campus Senator, Emma Susami, ran for speaker of the assembly, a position which was formerly known as president of the assembly. “I’m passionate about making a difference both within and outside of [SGA] meetings,” Susami said. “I see the position of the speaker of the assembly to be one that focuses on the efficiency and teamwork of the association. I also would like to hold all of you accountable for the work that you have signed yourself up for.” Susami elaborated that she would perform random check-ins to ensure that association members are actively involved. Pride Representative Vincent Smock spoke about their experiences with Susami. “Emma was one of the first SGA members that I met in the fall…she is absolutely a ball of energy,” Smock said. “She knows exactly what she is doing. Emma is one of the most organized and competent people I’ve ever met.” Susami was elected to be the secretary of the assembly with 99% of the vote. Student Life Senator, Abhijith Jannu, ran for vice speaker of the assembly. “As vice speaker, I want to focus on our contact with constituents, trying to make it less robotic and more real. Too often, we see these types of constituents like check boxes, and I want us to start having more person-to-person conversations, getting to know what students care about and not just sending them forms or surveys which they more often ignore,” Jannu said. Cardinal Court Senator, Edgar Chavez, praised Jannu. “I worked very closely with Senator Jannu in the days leading up to diversity week,” Chavez said. “He’s a very hard worker. I spoke to him early on when he talked about running for vice president of the assembly and it is something that he is very passionate about.” Jannu was elected to be vice president of the assembly with 99% of the vote. College of Business Senator Joshua Sweedler ran for secretary of the assembly. “I believe my experience, preparation and dedication make me a strong fit for this role,” Sweedler said. “To prepare for this position, I’ve met with former secretary [Ella Sharp] multiple times where she generously walked me through the expectations of the role and shared the strategies that contributed to her success. Thanks to those conversations, I feel well equipped to take on [the] responsibilities and serve the assembly.” College of Fine Arts and College of Nursing Senator Angel Trader commended Sweedler’s organizational habits. “[Josh and I] came into the association together, and let me tell you, he’s a very organized person. I always joke about stealing his notes and stuff; he literally sits here and takes notes about everything,” Trader said. Sweedler was elected as secretary of the assembly with 100% of the vote. Ross Vancil was appointed as the secretary of college affordability. “He really taught me a lot about student government, and he was able to answer all my questions,” said Watterson senator Lennon Stoner. “He’s really nice [and] he would always ask me about his events and things that I think [could] be better. He always cared about hearing another opinion, even if it was something he thought was already perfect.” Evan Nelson was appointed as the secretary of information technology. “He’s quick, efficient and he’s doing a lot of good work with the messy website he was handed,” said Off-Campus Senator Matthew Rickey. Jovana Emerick was appointed as the secretary of public relations. “She has been a phenomenal PR secretary,” said Sweedler. “Every single event—especially the SGA ones—she shows up, takes as many pictures as possible and she gets those posts out as soon as possible. She does a great job speaking to people on campus.” Student Body President Noah Montoya also briefly spoke about a shooting at ISU last Sunday during his executive report. “I want to start this off by taking a moment to acknowledge a recent act of violence that occurred on campus Sunday evening,” Montoya said. Although the incident was isolated, its impact has been deeply felt across our student body. Some members of our student body were nearby, witnessed the aftermath or are feeling shaken.” Four senators were also appointed: Off-Campus Senator Matthew Rickey, Off-Campus Senator Miguel Figueroa-Fragoso, Off-Campus Senator Mikalya Blum and Education Senator Ella Pettit. Additionally, five ex officio were confirmed with Emily Cardinal representing the Association of Residence Halls, Anthony Tamayo representing the Association of Latin American Students, Vincent Smock representing Pride, Chrissy Abobon representing the Asian Pacific American Coalition and Isabella Tornabene representing Students Ending Rape Culture.