Meet Your CGS Student Government
This spring, the College of General Studies Class of 2024 elected new officers to represent them in the CGS Student Government Association for the upcoming year. We caught up with your representatives to talk about their CGS experiences and their plans for sophomore year.
Shannon McKean, President
Why did you apply for your specific position?
Student government was a big part of my life in high school and it gave me a chance to connect with my peers and serve them. When I came to CGS, it was one thing I missed about high school and longed for in my college experience. As we start to near the end of the pandemic, I was eager to get back to working with my peers and for them, so CGSSA was one way I could do that. I also wanted to be a voice for students from all different backgrounds and help ensure they get the most they can out of CGS.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your time in CGSSA?
I definitely want to help students connect with their peers because I think CGS is a program that can give us so much if we immerse ourselves in it. I think one way we can do that is by connecting with each other and getting involved outside of the classroom. I want to work on the events that we currently have, like CGS Speed Dating, to improve them, and then implement some new events that can help students get involved.
What’s the most valuable thing you have learned during your time in CGS so far?
I think going into college students have a focus, like my major is what I’m supposed to be doing and that’s going to be the most valuable thing to me for my future, but I think CGS has shown me that interdisciplinary study is really important for students. Getting that well-rounded education not only helps my life stress-wise, since not all my classes are in the subject, but also gives me a new perspective on things.
Bhavika Goyal, Vice President
Why did you apply for your specific position?
I’m a first-generation student and I would like to make the most of my time at college, and wanted to be able to help do the same for my fellow students.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your time in CGSSA?
As vice president, I hope to aspire incoming students and current students to make the most they can out of their time at CGS and BU in general. I hope to help my classmates access resources to succeed and have fun at the same time.
What’s the most valuable thing you have learned during your time in CGS so far?
The most valuable thing that I have learned from CGS in my time so far has been the sense of community. Coming to a new school can be very scary and difficult. However, CGS has made me feel like I belonged here. This sense of community comes from our teams, professors, academic advisors and the school as a whole. Sense of community has been very valuable because it helps me open up and be myself, and by doing so it is a growth in character which is irreplaceable.
Quinn Barton, Secretary
Why did you apply for your specific position?
I knew I wanted to be involved in Student Government somehow, but I didn’t necessarily want to be the president or vice president. Event planning appealed to me because I like planning events and working with people. I had met the current E-Board and they seemed cool and they got along nicely, so I knew it would be fun.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your time in CGSSA?
I hope to bring in a little more in the way of in-person activities. It’s been such a crazy year and I really just want to do things for the CGS community to get people to meet each other and help people form relationships and friendships, because I know it’s been hard in the pandemic. I really just want to try and be there for the community and help in any way I can.
What’s the most valuable thing you have learned during your time in CGS so far?
Time management! College isn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I guess I thought it would be similar to high school and I had zero time management skills in high school. I think it’s a little bit easier when you know how to manage your time and it’s definitely less stressful. Being in an environment where your professors are really understanding and you know them a lot more personally than in say some of your bigger elective classes has been a big help. I took two really big elective classes that had 300 plus people in them and my professors had enough on their hands, so I didn’t know them that well. But with my CGS professors, they were super understanding and helpful, especially when I approached them and asked them how I should start spacing out my time, because I was struggling a little bit in the beginning.
Michael Campbell, Treasurer
Why did you apply for your specific position?
I decided to run for Treasurer of CGSSA because I wanted to become more involved in the CGS community at Boston University and to start using our resources to better the greater Boston area and help those who are struggling. Being Treasurer will also be a good opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with money and allocating funds to different events we are running, a skill I might use in the future now that I am majoring in economics.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your time in CGSSA?
During my time in CGSSA, I hope to reorient SGA to be more service-oriented by setting up events and fundraisers for disadvantaged people in the Boston community. I hope to work with other college SGAs, the Senate, and the administration to reduce waste and see if we could get the dining halls and on-campus dining on some sort of site like Food For All that will let other people buy food that would otherwise be thrown out.
What’s the most valuable thing you have learned during your time in CGS so far?
The most valuable thing I learned in CGS so far has probably been the concept of ideology in Professor Marr’s class. Marr describes ideologies as belief systems that serve to explain or justify current power imbalances, which is an interesting way of looking at ideology. Using this lens is very useful when dealing with anything in life by not just taking things at face value, but looking at ideology to explain why people do certain things or why certain things happen.
Nick Chen, Senator
Why did you apply for your specific position?
I applied for CGS E-Board because I wanted to have some kind of involvement in the CGS Student Government, as well as working with individuals like myself who want to make the CGS experience as fun as possible. I ran for Senator because it allows me to not only deal with issues that involve CGS but Boston University itself. I want to work with fellow Senators from all the different colleges to pass legislation that positively affects Boston University as a whole.
What are you hoping to accomplish during your time in CGSSA?
During my time in the CGS E-Board, I hope to be the embodiment of all the voices of College of General Studies students, and I’m sure all of my colleagues would agree. In addition to this, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic toll on morale and the events students are going to participate in. One of the biggest things I hope to accomplish is to bring back a sense of community and make the best transition we can back to a fun college environment. We want to make CGS students feel like they are part of a family of peers and feel connected to each other.
What’s the most valuable thing you have learned during your time in CGS so far?
The most valuable thing I’ve learned during my time in CGS is that friendships and connections are invaluable. I am so lucky to be surrounded by a community of intelligent peers that inspire me every day to take action in their student government. This is also true for the CGS professors, they’re eager to meet new students and also encourage students to converse with them. They make CGS feel like a home away from home and make me feel proud to be part of this CGS family.
— Compiled by Julia Allard