As students return from summer break, officers in the Student Government Association are settling into their new positions, including Crofton senior Nicki Seay, who is beginning her first semester as SGA president. 

Seay said her job involves two roles — leading SGA and coming up with ideas and initiatives, but also representing WKU students.

“But outside of SGA, many administrators here on campus see me as the, you know, the official voice of the student body,” Seay said.

As president, Seay works with Administrative Vice President Liz Koehler and Executive Vice President Nolan Miles. 

Seay said her first priority is encouraging student involvement on campus and improving student life. Seay also wants to help students stay at WKU and achieve their graduation goals. 

“One of our specific ways that we’re doing that is we are expanding our summer and winter term need-based scholarship program,” she said. 

This year SGA increased the scholarship program from last year’s $6,000 to $21,000 because of an anonymous donation, Koehler said.

Koehler, who is responsible for tracking SGA’s spending and budget, said she also values student involvement on campus.

“I think when students get more involved on campus that helps make their grades better and they’re more likely to stay on campus, which will help, in the overall, our retention rates,” she said. 

Miles also wants to encourage student involvement in WKU’s student-led organizations, which he said have been lacking promotion. 

A part of Miles’ role is finding people to serve on various university committees that deal with different aspects of WKU. 

“These are committees that the student government has a voice on to represent the student body,” Miles said.

In the past, SGA has had problems with attendance. SGA’s policy has been to bring up senators who have missed three meetings for judicial review. If that senator doesn’t have a good excuse, he or she may face consequences. Enforcement of that policy would be up to SGA’s chief justice, Seay said.

Seay also said she wants to make SGA a worthwhile experience so senators will be more inclined to attend meetings, by making sure they feel valued.

“Me and a couple of the other executive members do agree that we’re going to make SGA an engaging and exciting place to be,” Seay said. 

SGA’s first official meeting of the semester is Sept. 2.