Meeting Minutes September 12, 2019

Northern Essex Community College Student Government Association Meeting Minutes

Meeting called to order by President, Samantha Cook. Date | Time: 09/12/2019 4:01 PM. Total Voting Members:5. Quorum: Yes.

Roll Call

Secretary, Chloe Upham, conducted the roll call.

The following individuals were present:

Executive Board Attendance

• President: Samantha Cook
• Vice President of the Lawrence Campus: Hannah Benning
• Secretary: Chloe Upham
• General Members:
  • Joe Paquin
  • Peter Rodriguez

Non-Voting Members in Attendance

4

Guests In Attendance

• Advisor: Stephanie Haskell
• Vice President of Academic Affairs: William Heineman
• Assistant Director of Student Success Management Systems: Audrey Ellis

The Following Members Were Absent

• Vice President of Haverhill: Courtney Morin
• Treasurer: Mehali Patel
• Parliamentarian: Sofia Fedele

Guests

Audrey Ellis

1. Audrey Ellis is a former employee of EAB Navigate and has been working at NECC for 2 months now. She has worked with community colleges to help them use the “Navigate Student” app.
2. About “Navigate Student”:
   1. This is an app, found in the Apple App Store and Google Play, that acts as a helpful tool for students.
   2. “Navigate Student” filters out the necessary and important information to students only a little bit at a time, so students do not become overwhelmed with information.
   3. Some of the app’s features:
      1. “Study Buddies”: An easy way to see who, in your class, is interested in studying with a fellow classmate.
      2. Class Schedule: A quick way to access your schedule.
      3. Resources: A tab that holds all kinds of NECC resources ranging from the bus schedules to maps of both campuses.
      4. Major Explorer: Shows different majors NECC offers and gets students to think about their career path or if they are in the right major.
3. If you are a student or faculty member and you have any issues with “Navigate Student” or if you have any ideas for Navigate, please contact Audrey Ellis using the email address listed above.

William Heineman

1. William Heineman explained that NECC purchased “Navigate Student” because they wanted a tool that students could easily use in their own hands.
2. In the future, NECC hopes to add class registration onto the app. Additionally, they are hoping that they can find the NECC faculty a system similar to “Navigate Student”, so that faculty will have their own tool.

Student Forum

1. Rosielis Herrera Berroa

   1. Rosielis brought to SGA’s attention that there have been multiple complaints from students about the new shuttles and their schedules. Due to the new shuttle schedule, students have been running late for their classes or waiting hours for the next shuttle to come.

2. Daniel Keating

   1. Daniel is a student representative for both the Finance Committee and the Student Affairs Committee. Daniel is fulfilling his last component for the honor’s program, which requires creating an honor’s research project. He is interested in researching unconscious bias in private and public institutions for his Organizational Behavior class. Daniel wanted to gauge SGA’s interest regarding whether or not they would attend a week long festival concerning unconscious bias.

Approval of Minutes

There are no current minutes to be approved.
Minutes for all meetings are posted on the  SGA page of the NECC website

Executive Committee Reports

President: Samantha Cook

1. Samantha requested that all members arrive at least 5 minutes early, prior to the start of the meeting. Additionally, she asked that all members contact either Stephanie, Chloe, or herself if they are going to be absent.

Vice President of Haverhill Campus: Courtney Morin

1. Absent

Vice President of Lawrence Campus: Hannah Benning

1. Hannah attended the Student Affairs Committee meeting on Monday, September 9th, 2019. During this meeting, they discussed the current transportation issues at NECC.

Treasurer: Mehali Patel

1. Absent

Secretary: Chloe Upham

1. Chloe reminded all present members to check their student emails regularly. Additionally, they will be receiving the meeting agenda on the Wednesday night before the meeting via both email and Microsoft Teams.

Parliamentarian: Sofia Fedele

1. Absent

Programming Chair of Haverhill Campus

VACANT

Programming Chair of Lawrence Campus

VACANT

Marketing Chair

VACANT

Tabled Business

1. Constitution Day

   1. SGA will be helping Janel D’Agata-Lynch for Constitution Day on September 17th. Location(s):
      1. Lawrence Campus, Dimitry Atrium, 9:00-11:00am
      2. Haverhill Campus, Spurk Lobby, 11:30-1:30pm
   2. SGA will be bringing parts of its constitution to display to get feedback from students.

2. Constitution Committee

   1. Joe moves to reinstate the Constitution Committee through the spring semester. Chloe seconds the motion. The motion passes.

3. U-Knighted Fair

   1. SGA will be handing out petitions and merchandise to students, like a regular tabling event.
   2. Dates:
      1. Oct 2nd, Haverhill Campus, 10-12:30pm
      2. Oct 9th, Lawrence Campus, 10-12:30pm

4. Popcorn & Positions Evaluation (Lawrence Campus)

   1. Peter said the event (on 9/10/19) went well and they had a large turnout of students. He suggested to prepare popcorn ahead of time, because students could not wait long for the popcorn to cook due to classes starting.
   2. Stephanie said the location of the table was good because it was located right where students were walking in and out of the building. She also reminded SGA to thoroughly clean the popcorn machine after it is used.

5. Special Elections

   1. Joe moves to hold special elections on October 3rd, during the 4-6pm SGA meeting. Chloe seconds the motion. The motion passes.

New Business

1. Budget

   1. Mehali Patel , Courtney Morin, and Stephanie Haskell had a meeting with Allison Gouveia, regarding the SGA budget.
   2. The request for club funding that SGA approved in the Spring 2019 semester has already been allocated to clubs and organizations, so there will be no money coming out of the SGA’s current budget for club funding.
   3. Stephanie Haskell mentioned that Mehali Patel was interested in creating a budget spreadsheet for SGA in order to project money for each event this academic year so we do not overspend our budget.
   4. Samantha Cook stressed how important it is that we start to fundraise money for the SGA scholarship as the money used for scholarships must be fundraised.

2. Student Lounge Survey

   1. Hannah Benning received feedback from 19 students regarding the student lounge, located on the Lawrence Campus in Dimitry, right next to the library.
   2. About 79% of the students surveyed had not yet visited the student lounge. About 58% of the students surveyed said they would use a DVD player in the lounge.
   3. SGA plans to look into having a sign created for the student lounge.

3. Executive Board Meetings

   1. Executive board members, if they have not already, need to respond to the email thread sent out with what times they are available during the week.

4. Hispanic Heritage Month

   1. a. Tabled to next week’s meeting.

5. Transportation

   1. SamanthaCook contacted Mike McCarthy, NECC’s Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer, and Mary Murphy, who works in the Administration/Finance department and helps with the shuttle, asking how can we ensure the shuttles are arriving and departing on time. Samantha also asked if the bus times can be shifted in order to accommodate class schedules.
   2. The Student Affairs Committee is working on an updated schedule, because the NECC website states that the shuttle leaves every hour, when it’s actually every hour and a half. The Student Affairs Committee is also tackling the issues of overflow parking on the Lawrence campus and there not being spots to park.
   3. It was reported that shuttle buses have begun to leave early because they were filling up so quickly with students. Additionally, it was reported that students were beginning to sit in the middle of the aisles to fit on the shuttle. This matter will be looked into further by SGA.
   4. Student-written suggestion card:
      1. On September 4th, an anonymous NECC student road a shuttle at 8:00am from the Lawrence campus to the Haverhill campus. The shuttle was not able to accommodate every student, so 7 students were left scrambling to find a way to the Haverhill campus. This student reported that the shuttle schedule is unbalanced and it has become very difficult to catch a shuttle.

Advisors Report

1. Stephanie Haskell would like SGA executive board members to schedule a two on one meeting with her and Samantha Cook.
2. Stephanie Haskell asked that when SGA members mention a faculty/staff member in a discussion that they also say include their roll on campus so all students attending meetings can feel included and follow the conversation.
3. Stephanie Haskell advises that SGA creates a timeline and notifies Kirsten Kortz and Heather Mores of this update forthe SGA constitution.

Student Trustee Report

The trustee is absent, no report.

Announcements

1. Elections for Student Government will be held October 3, 2019 from 4:00pm-6:00pm at the SGA meeting. We currently have positions open for Programming Chair of Haverhill, Programming Chair of Lawrence and Marketing Chair. Please prepare a short 5 minute speech on why you think you qualify.
2. U-Knighted Fair will be held October 2, 2019 on the Haverhill campus on the Quad and October 9, 2019 on the Lawrence campus at Dimitry from 11:00am -1:30pm! Check out all the different clubs and organizations on campus.

Next Meeting / Adjournment

The next SGA meeting will be on Thursday, September 19th at 4:00 P.M. in Haverhill, SC 106 & in Lawrence in Dimitry 143. Motion to adjourn was made at 5:02 P.M. by Joe Paquin and was passed unanimously.