Sarah Lilly, '17, Information Systems, is Speaker of the UMBC Student Government Association Senate.

The most common question I hear from other students when talking about UMBC's Student Government Association is, why do you do it? That, or the more frustrating what’s the point?

Well, I am so glad you asked.

Yes, I have a lot on my plate. Occasionally, it’s even overflowing. I work full time at a government agency, attend school full time, try to have a social life, and am heavily involved with student government.

Whoa. 

Right? That's quite a bit of responsibility.

Out of all of these commitments, by far my favorite is the one I have made to SGA and to the UMBC community. Throughout my undergraduate journey, the one consistent theme that has emerged in many ways at UMBC is this: If you don’t like something, change it. It is honestly that simple.

Yeah, right.

No, but, like, for real. For 50 years, students have been a part of every decision making process. Soliciting student feedback is expected here. For students not to be included in campus changes would violate our norms. Everything from making choices about food services to planning new buildings to developing policies - you betcha students have had a hand in them. Case in point: I am currently passionately on fire about Title IX issues both at UMBC and across the University Systems of Maryland. Student government gives me a network of fellow students, faculty, staff, and partner organizations to help me address my concerns. All it took for me to get all of this rolling was (1) having a concern (2) talking to other people about that concern and (3) gathering the concerned people to talk about what we can do.

But SGA is where baby politicians go to practice.

L O L. Did you forget that I already have a job beyond UMBC? While #SGAisLife may be true, SGA does not necessarily mean a commitment to being a professional politician after college. Our current SGA President is a music major and our Vice President is an aspiring engineer. Yes, we are socially and politically and *insert adverb here* active. But we’re not politicians. We’re students with a real desire to make effective change on this campus. So we get together and do that thing.

Okay fine. But adults don’t listen to you.

Wrong again. Wanna know why? Spoiler alert: we’re adults too! Adults listen to other adults. We don’t whine to get what we want, we have meaningful discussions. It would be very easy to cry and say “The dining hall doesn’t have the specific chocolate cake my great-great grandmother used to make, therefore I am never going there.” Well, I’m sure your great-great grandmother was a lovely person, but if you don’t talk about that concern, how will it ever get addressed? And you’ll never get the joy of a delicious omelette from Omelette Guy on the weekend. It’s a give and a take. You bring more to the table than you recognize.

Great, but I don’t care about dining or Title IX.

I am going to pretend I didn’t hear the Title IX comment. But SGA has a ton of different departments including Environmental Affairs, Health and Wellness, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs and more. It’s really, really cool to be a part of a unique collective of students who just care about stuff. We keep each other on our toes with new updates, initiatives, ideas. I get to be an active member of an organization that represents 11,000 people. That is insane! I absolutely love my SGA family. We laugh together, we cry together, we learn together, and we grow together. Sure, it can be frustrating at times, but at the end of the day we are always a team.

Nice ad for SGA.

Thanks! I’m our biggest fan, aside from my aunts, who love my SGA-related Facebook updates. SGA just so happened to be where I found my home. I feel as though I’ve been “called to serve” or whatever in this community, and in all of my communities. If SGA isn’t your home, there are over 270 other organizations you can join. I cannot sit idly by with all of this passion and all of these feelings and just hope something will change. I need to be an active part of the change. I am empowered in this organization and I hope that I empower others too, growing with peers as we better our institution. That’s why I do it.

Contact the author, Sarah Lilly, at slilly1@umbc.edu.