Seventy-five years after NMC opened in 1951, the Student Government Association (SGA) hopes to encourage students to continue getting involved on campus to maintain its culture and vibrancy.

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The SGA met on Feb. 2 to discuss the future of student involvement on campus. They covered upcoming events such as Winter Fest, which happened on Feb. 3. They also spoke about SGA’s meeting with the board of trustees on March 23, and the association reflected on accomplishments from last semester. 

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The meeting opened with a review of the minutes from the previous meeting. The SGA’s president, Ava Moomey, wanted to review their plans for Winter Fest. 

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Winter Fest is held once a year as a tabling event to allow student groups to promote their group and get people interested in them. During this year’s Winter Fest, the SGA had its own table and planned a more student-involvement-focused approach. 

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During the event, Moomey hoped that the SGA could begin to have a more prominent presence on campus. Lisa Thomas, one of the faculty advisors for the group, said in the meeting that it may be helpful for students to know what the SGA can do for them. 

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The SGA offers a variety of resources. It is the group that is mostly responsible for managing student group funding, and often is involved in organizing campus events. The association is hopeful that its heightened presence at Winter Fest will encourage students to reach out to their available resources. 

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An additional goal Mooney had for Winter Fest was to get to know the other student group leaders better, so that they can begin to communicate about the SGA’s second luncheon this year. The goal of this event is for student group leaders to have a designated time to network with other group leaders and to collaborate. “It was a nice way, through some of those luncheons, [to have] student groups start working together on pooling their resources,” said Thomas. 

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Last year, the number of student leaders who attended the luncheon dropped significantly, and the SGA hopes to get numbers up this year. Their plan to increase attendance consists of more aggressive advertisements and communication with group leaders. It also wants to stress that it is a free event, and that going would be beneficial in letting other groups know what each other does. 

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In addition to networking, it is also a good time to communicate that the window for student groups to request funding is open from Jan. 31 to March and the SGA expects to see group leaders joining the SGA’s meetings to request funding for their group. 

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As the association continues to plan for the board of trustees meeting on March 23, it has begun reflecting on this past academic year’s events and its impacts on student quality of life on campus. One impact it is highlighting in the meeting is a new Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) route that has been connected to NMC’s Front Street Campus. 

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The SGA has recently been working with representatives from BATA to make public transportation more accessible for students. After multiple meetings with the representatives for BATA, the SGA was able to get student discounts added to routes 5 and 14.

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Both routes 5 and 14 have already been connected to NMC and have a pickup location at the Dennos museum, but through collaboration with the SGA, BATA will now offer a 50% discount to students taking their lines. 

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The SGA hopes to continue the partnership with BATA and has goals for extending the two routes further into campus to make it more accessible for students. However, the SGA encourages students to use these resources because, without participation from students, resources like these may not continue to develop. 

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Its next step with this project is advocating for a stop near the Innovation Center. “Where we’re at with that now is we’re trying to collect data on it and figure out how many college students are using [lines 5 and 14] to hopefully get [the pickup station] moved to the Innovation Center,” said Moomey.

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In addition to the BATA route, Moomey has other goals for NMC in the near future. A current theme that the SGA has been working towards is “vibrancy” on campus. Many students who attend NMC commute from off-campus to come to class, and because of this, Moomey believes that the campus may not feel as inviting as the SGA would like it to be. 

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The end goal of it’s mission towards vibrancy is making NMC feel more like home. The SGA wants students to feel like they don’t have to only come to the campus to go to class. It wants to build a space where students can feel like a part of the campus and its community. 

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As the meeting concluded, Moomey took a moment to reflect with the association on its past decisions and how it can do better for NMC’s students. Going forward, the association has goals to make more informed decisions, and are hopeful that more student engagement will allow it to more accurately understand what students want to see on campus. 

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Moomey believes that the first step towards this goal is collecting data. Her hopes are that with having more concrete proof of student concerns and feedback, the SGA will be able to more accurately affect campus in the ways students want.