By Grace Gottschling
Staff Writer
Student Government voted to officially recognize two student organizations, the Music Students Association and the Actuarial Sciences Club, and welcomed new senators during its meeting on Feb. 21.
The Music Students Association’s goal is to give students a chance to practice and perform in a low-stress environment. Any student who has taken, or is currently taking a music class at the College is welcome to become a member.
The Actuarial Sciences Club is designed to create a space for actuarial science students to socialize. The group also plans on hosting and co-sponsoring events and social activities with other student organizations.
During the governance report, it was announced that the Steering Committee has required that the Committee on Academic Programs review a proposal to add the capacity for some classes to be conducted with both in-person and online components.
The Global Engagement Council added new study abroad courses and renewed some that were offered in the past for the winter of 2019. Opportunities to study abroad in Peru, Greece, India and London were added to the course curriculum.
Liam Kealy, a senior early childhood education and English double major and head education senator, announced current efforts by the School of Education senators to compose a comprehensive document to familiarize education students with the edTPA Exam. The edTPA is a highly debated exam meant to gauge if teachers are prepared for the classroom.
Several states who currently use edTPA, including New York, are currently reviewing the teacher certification requirements. The edTPA has been a New Jersey state requirement since September 2017. Education students who feel strongly about the edTPA are encouraged to use the “Google signature” option on the document to voice their feelings about the mandatory exam.
SG discussed its upcoming annual report, which will detail what the organization has achieved so far this academic year. Upon its completion at the end of the semester, the report will be available to the student body.
Chris Blakeley, SG’s executive president and a junior civil engineering major, said the annual report is designed to “present to the community what (SG) is doing.”
SG welcomed the newly elected senators from several academic schools, including Humanities and Social Sciences Senators Jennifer O’Neill, a sophomore history and political science double major and Kiana Stockwell, a freshman political science major; Arts and Communication Senators Lorriann Guzman, a sophomore communication studies major, and Alyssa Jackson, a junior communication studies major; Business Senators Jake Mansure, a freshman finance major, Kerry Silverman, a junior marketing major and Rachel Leao, a junior finance major.
