Run for SGA 2012-2013

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:32:00 -0500
opportunities, sga-election

In this guest post, Caitlyn Leiter-Mason, SGA's Election Board Chair, lifts the curtain on the 2012 SGA election.

Exactly one month from today, I will excitedly put together a list of all the wonderful students at UMBC who have decided to run for SGA office. Will one of those names be yours?

Today, the SGA Election Board is launching our website – www.umbc.edu/studentvote – as well as a myUMBC group “Elect SGA 2012” to help you decide whether or not to run (hint, the answer is you should!).

Each spring (mark your calendars for April 23-25!), the undergraduate student body at UMBC elects students to 20 positions. We choose 11 Senators, 5 Finance Board Representatives, a Vice President for Student Organizations, a Treasurer, an Executive Vice President, and a President. These are the students who allocate our student activity fees, who plan campus initiatives, who advise and support student organizations, who represent our interests, and who work with us to make UMBC ours.

In order to run for SGA office, you have to fill out a candidate application with some basic information about who you are and why you want to run. Those will be due before Spring Break, on Friday, March 16th. After Spring Break, campaigns will kick into gear. Look out for open houses, debates, candidate profiles, and other ways to learn about who's running for office.

In the meantime, check out www.umbc.edu/studentvote! It's got more information about SGA structure, the positions that are open, eligibility requirements, and more. We'll keep it up to date with posts about information sessions and deadlines and other great resources for potential candidates.

My personal favorite part of the website is the “Tell Them To Run” tab. Sometimes we all need a little nudge to put ourselves out there, and running for SGA office is no exception. “Tell Them To Run” allows students to encourage each other to make a commitment to the UMBC community. Let someone know that you think they have leadership potential. Let them know you think they have great ideas. Let them know you would vote for them. And tell them they should run! Fill out the google form, and we'll make sure your message gets to them.

That's it for now! Keep your eyes peeled for more election news, and get ready to run!

Your handy-dandy Election Board Chair,

--Caitlyn

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