Amy Martin is the Student Association’s executive vice president. Nicole Cennamo is the SA’s chief of staff.
This Wednesday and Thursday, students have the chance to elect their future Student Association leaders. Given the uncertainties that lie in our academic future, it has never been more important to elect leaders who will put students first. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we must have unprecedented advocacy in every element of the student experience – health services, quality housing, academic support, food security and inclusive community-building.
Less than four weeks ago, our lives as students were uprooted with the announcement that classes would move online for the rest of the semester. With little warning, our community had to adjust to a new reality – and as student leaders, that meant confronting unique challenges about supporting students through an experience so different from the one we were promised. But being a student advocate means being ready to adapt to change and tackling whatever obstacles face our community head-on. Despite these new circumstances, we have never stopped pushing ourselves and the University to address student needs. We organized a community food drive for The Store, developed a GW COVID-19 Guide to keep students informed, facilitated peer-to-peer support through mutual aid resources and donated $10,000 to the GW CARES Student Assistance Fund.
Through our tenure as executive vice president and chief of staff, we have embraced the fact that it is impossible to know what lies ahead. Over the course of this year, we have learned to be honest about the work we have left to do in addressing systemic issues of prejudice and bigotry and what it means to heal as a community.
But even in these moments of adversity, student advocacy can never be put on hold. Together, we have addressed prominent issues on campus with well-thought-out proposals. We have created a more accessible campus by establishing a gender-neutral bathroom in the Marvin Center, improving lighting on the Mount Vernon Campus, updating campus maps with accessibility features and successfully pushing for the creation of the newly accessible H Street crosswalk. Internally, we have also worked to develop student-centered programs, from the expansion of People for Periods to three new buildings and the creation of a reusable supply rental program within our Student Organization Resource Center to hosting the State of GW town hall and designing platforms like the SA Feedback Reporting System to amplify the student voice. Some of our proudest accomplishments include the expansion of laundry credits from 24 to 34 and the establishment of a health center on the Vern. We are excited by all that we’ve accomplished thus far but are even more so by the many projects that will still come to fruition before the end of the academic year.
Amid uncertainty, it is the responsibility of SA candidates for president and executive vice president to rise to the occasion and be diligent in their efforts to improve the student experience. Student advocacy is not about quick fixes. It is about consistently doing the work necessary to get things done, even if that work isn’t glamorous. It is about stepping up during times of crisis, rolling with the punches and being there even when it gets tough. At the end of the day, it is not about any one student leader, but the long-term impact that your collective work has on the lives of the students you serve.
As this pandemic continues to evolve over the coming months, it will take a committed group of student leaders to thoughtfully convey student needs to the administration. After so much unpredictability, we need not just bold action but creative, intentional solutions for us to emerge from this upheaval as a stronger GW community.
GW, remember to cast your vote on April 8 and 9 for the candidates who you believe will lead selflessly and persevere through the unexpected. Candidates, be the leaders that our community deserves. As a student leader, it is not your job to guarantee any certain future, but it is your duty to uphold your promise to fight for students regardless of what may be in store.
