The Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) took to Bartel’s Hall on Tuesday (Nov 29th) for a USGA senator meet and greet. Students had the opportunity to meet and voice their opinions to the newly-elected and re-elected representatives. USGA focuses on gathering input from students on campus and communicating that with the multiple programs and departments throughout the university.

“We really want to bridge the gap between the student government and the students themselves,” Nicholas Mroczka told Charger Bulletin. “We want them to know they are the ones in charge in the end, and that we’re here to help them make UNH their home. The senators are here to meet face-to-face and get some input.”

Each student senator is an advocate for a different department on campus, coordinating events involved with the department. The senators help cover issues ranging from the Sodexo food services to the different schools of the college and help change the programs to suit the student’s needs.

USGA felt that communicating to students through digital media alone was not effective, and decided to take the suggestions of students to take a more engaging and open approach for meeting the senators.

“We tried sending out an email, but we didn’t like the idea of just being another email. We really wanted to show the students we are open to hearing them out,” Mroczka said. “We decided the best thing to do was to try something they wanted from us. So we took a suggestion of a meet-and-greet and combined it with an ice cream social, to show that we’re listening.”

An ice cream buffet welcomed students as they entered Bartels Hall and all twenty-five senators were around Jazzman’s to introduce themselves and their departments and to ask for insight on what was going on around campus.

For many senators, it was their first time as a USGA official. Many were interested and hopeful about what they could offer the school. Angelo Provosto was inspired hearing about USGA during a FLEX event and decided to try it out through a position as a senator. Melo wanted to join to spread racial diversity and awareness across campus by becoming an official.

The senators were also excited by the prospect of their new positions and already had ideas for the semester to come. Jessica Miceli, as the Academics Sub Committee Head, announced her plans for a “Cram Jam” social event to help with the Fall semester finals, and wanted to find ways to bring more students from different majors together to learn and thrive.