The Student Government Association announced that for the first time since 2018, there is more than one candidate for SGA president.
Stephen Bender, a junior in computer information systems.
What do you hope to bring to Ferris if you win the presidency?
If I win the presidency, I would like to bring an increase in the amount of outreach programs to the community that we currently have. That’s my central focus, giving back. I have always enjoyed volunteering, that’s actually why I joined student government in the first place. When I joined, I noticed that wasn’t really what that was about. I would love to bring and create more opportunities. I’ve talked with the cabinet currently, and we have plans to do some community cleanup. We wanted to go to a personal care facility to do activities, clean up the highway, things like that. I feel like the student government’s role should be trying to better our campus and our community.
Do you have plans for the current student government funds?
I would really like to give more to RSOs. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me as the director of internal assessment asking for funding for their RSOs. We have a lot of money but we’re currently not doing a whole lot to spend it. With that amount of money, we have a lot of potential for generosity towards our RSOs. I would encourage them to send a representative. It’s already encouraged but I think if they send a representative and propose funding and they see that money come in, it would be a further incentive to have someone from your RSO be a representative. I want to help other RSOs on campus, with that money, accomplish their goals, and then I also want to spend some of that money to buy equipment for our volunteering initiatives. I plan on putting that funding towards just trying to create a better campus and a better community with that primarily.
What inspired you to run?
I think what inspired me to run was seeing other leaders in the university making positive changes. There are a few faculty who put together the Ferris Leadership Scholars, which I’m part of. Seeing all the people that are involved in that, just some of the students and the faculty who put that on for the betterment of the university has been hugely, hugely inspiring. I’m in another RSO, the Bulldog Computer Professionals, and the president of that RSO has a deep passion for that program. The amount of time he spends and puts into it and the programs he comes up with are just amazing to me. That’s something that, as a leader, I feel like I can help guide others on campus towards success for themselves, whatever that might look like. I’m just hugely inspired by other leaders on campus to run for the presidency.
Are there any challenges you think you might face taking over this position?
I think a challenge could possibly be getting people on the same page. Just from what I’ve seen, a lot of people like to have their own idea of how we should be running student government. I think a challenge that I would need to overcome if I was elected president would be to unite everybody to get everyone on the same page with our goals and hear what others have to say. Maybe some of my ideas aren’t right and aren’t taking the organization in the right direction so I want to increase communication within the organization. Last semester, we didn’t really talk about goals or anything like that. So I want to unite everybody and let people know that we’re friends. We should be friends.
Pedro Saltini, a sophomore in finance and economics.
What do you hope to bring to Ferris if you win the presidency?
I would like to bring the Ferris spirit back. Ferris is often picked as a cheap or affordable option for students and a few of them come to Ferris without the Bulldog spirit and pride. I want people to remind themselves of all the great things Ferris State University achieving and no matter where you are, you’re always a Bulldog. I want to bring improvements as fast as the university is bringing them for us, so the students remind themselves that we are here together because we are Bulldogs and we always have more to achieve.
Do you have plans for the current student government funds?
The first thing we have planned is to have a big meeting with all students on campus and send out an email so we can decide a list of events that we need to accomplish as the student government board. Our success in our governance is going to be through completing the list of objectives the students decide are best for them and not having those being planned by the president. I think that’s a position where you can get to governing with a lot of people and the students should be involved because the title of the position is a student government president and I want to be there for my community.
What inspired you to run?
I think what inspired me to run is that Ferris always embraced me and welcomed me and I think I should give back to my community in a way. I know I’m committed to not giving up on any challenge, staying focused and doing the best for Ferris State University.
Are there any challenges you think you might face taking over this position?
I think whatever we have as a challenge, we have a focused group. We have a really good group that is going to help me overachieve and deliver to Ferris State University the best president they have.
News Editor Ember St. Amour contributed to the reporting of this story.