SGA members speak with students during the Involvement Fair Feb. 8 as part of Homecoming Week on the Chapel Lawn on the Edinburg campus. Photo Courtesy Student Government Association
Student Government Association executives have been working on a resolution to create a UTRGV tradition to incentivize students on the President’s List by hosting a “President’s Ball.”
During the March 10 senate meeting, SGA President Jonathan Dominguez addressed the team’s initiative to incentivize students that was discussed at the beginning of the senate’s term.
The team reached out to the Office of the University Registrar to learn how many students have been on the President’s and Dean’s lists during the last six semesters and used that data to write the resolution.
“This will be only for [the] President’s List, unfortunately, because I calculated the average of how many students have made it to the President’s List these past six semesters, and it’s around 3,144,” Dominguez said.
He said a second draft of the resolution is in the works and explained some of his ideas for the incentivization.
“For now, the name that I have for it is going to be the President’s Ball,” he said. “It’s going to be some sort of, like, prom kind of thing, and it’s going to be formal. There’s going to be dinner. Perhaps, the [UTRGV] President Guy Bailey will give a little speech and, after that, there will be, like, a dance.”
Dominguez added that the event would happen once every academic year, starting next year. He said that he would like to hold the event on both Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.
To qualify for the President’s List, a student “must complete at least 12 credit hours with at least one class that has a letter grade. [The] term GPA will then determine if [the student qualifies] for the President’s List,” according to the UTRGV website.
Students must also have a GPA of 4.0 for the President’s List.
During the president’s report, SGA Vice President for Internal Affairs Kimberly Escalante said the consultant for the Parking and Transportation Services Department study has not provided the results yet. The team will check back in early April as suggested by the department.
For the committee reports, Senator At-Large for Brownsville Juana Jimenez spoke on behalf of Chair Kassandra Garcia. Jimenez said the Academic Affairs Committee introduced the interns for the First Year Internship Program to the SGA during its last meeting.
Julianna Castillo, chair of the Campus Life and Community Affairs Committee, explained that the committee is also working with the FYI Program. Castillo said the committee has talked about ideas with the interns and that three proposals are in the works.
“So, each intern is partnered with a senator and so they will be completing one proposal each,” Castillo said.
Odalys Saenz, chair of the Internal Affairs Committee, said she has contacted 300 past and present SGA members to give them their graduation stoles. The committee will partner with the organizers of the Student Leader Recognition Ceremony, “where UTRGV organizations are able to spot light their graduating members,” according to V Link.
The stoles will be presented during the Student Leader Recognition Ceremony, an awards event hosted by the Center for Student Involvement to honor student organizations, advisers and programs.
The ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. April 28 in the University Ballroom on the Edinburg campus.
