By Sam Salvio

What began as an idea to get student leaders to come together and share their leadership experiences with one another, has now developed into a premier nationwide conference on student government associations (COSGA).

Hosted by the student government leaders of Texas A&M University, over 400 delegates from institutions across the country annually visit their campus for a three-day conference surrounded around “enthusiasm in leadership.” As the conference grows in both scope and size every year, they have even invited delegates from Mexico, Qatar, and the Caribbean.

UNH student leaders along with the current Director of Student Activities, Greg Overend, have been delighted to attend this conference for the past six years. Through various expert key-note speakers, workshops and roundtable discussions, the delegates come back to the university energized with new ideas and improvements to the student government.

This past weekend, two freshmen (Samantha Salvio and James Kielar) and two juniors (Isaak Kifle and Zani Imetovski) represented UNH at COSGA this year. All of them were attending the conference for the first time, and became antsy counting down the days until their departure as their fellow student leaders teased them with their own experiences at COSGA in past years.

USGA President, Patrick Kelland, had one piece of advice: DO NOT miss your flight. This warning, having branched from occurrences in the past, had all the new delegates taking what he said to heart. Whether or not to stay up all night, or head to bed early the night before their flight soon became the question. Ultimately, all the delegates arrived safely at their destination.

Following the opening ceremony, all delegates were in for an early wakeup call. The next morning everyone was up bright and early, ready to learn about this year’s theme: “Passion into action.”

Senior Aggie and COSGA Director, Meghan Reilly, challenged everyone with the question of how to take the first step in taking events/ideas that you are passionate about and implementing them as a reality. Workshops central to this theme were presented by Texas A&M student leaders, as well as student leaders from the other universities attending the conference. Ranging from different election processes to keeping your team motivated all year, their workshops covered almost every area of student government. One workshop was presented by the Universidad de Monterrey of Mexico on their student government structure. Their group kicked things off with an unforgettable ice breaker, “the coffee grinder,” and kept it incredibly high energy throughout.

In addition to the student presenters, there was a couple of key-note speakers invited as well, to give attendees a more professional perspective. Ever heard of an “ambassador of fun” being someone’s professional job title? Believe it! Tony Brigmon is employed mainly through Southwest Airlines for stress management, and to keep good public relations within the company through G-rated interactive fun and practical/creative exercises. Within seconds of his introduction, he had the audience laughing endlessly and dancing to all the stages of his M.U.S.I.C. philosophy.

The second part of the conference was to network. Having so many different student governments from universities nationwide gathered under one roof, the opportunity to learn from each other made sense. The Aggie way of creating the perfect environment for getting to know each other involved Casino Night, Velocity Neon Night, and a traditional Southern Hoedown. Even after a long day, none of these student leaders denied any of these opportunities. Delegate Isaak Kifle came prepared with his plaid, button-down tee and two-stepped the night away with a few COSGA hostesses.

With that classic Southern hospitality and new friends, it was needless to say that this was an experience that will always be remembered. To describe his experience at COSGA 2013, junior Zani Imetovski said, “It was an amazing experience that supplied me and my group with a lot of new information to bring back to USGA.”

All student leaders on campus should keep their ears open for next year’s announcement for COSGA applications. They will undoubtedly have an exceptional experience.