The Student Government Association (SGA) filled an honors college senator seat, two senator-at-large seats and read a resolution for grammar in its second meeting of the semester. 

SGA elected Canyon Clardy as honor college senator. Clardy is a first-year mechanical engineering major from Paragould. 

“I would like to make a difference on more of a bigger scale later in life,” Clardy said. “I thought making a change here would be a good start.”

Clardy said, as the honors college senator, he wants to bring more organization to the honors community. He said the honors culture is very welcoming and he hopes to bring it to SGA and spread it across campus.

Additionally, he said he is already pursuing a project to boost morale within the College of Engineering and Computer Science. 

Jonathan Toma, a sophomore finance and accounting double major from Hot Springs, Arkansas, was one of the at-large senators elected during the meeting. 

Toma said his interest in SGA came from wanting to get more involved at A-State as well as creating a change for the athletic community on campus. 

“I work closely with them through NIL, I work for the impact club, so I get to see the ins and outs of how athletes are viewed and treated and such,” Toma said. 

He said he wants to assist student athletes in preparing for life outside of college through career readiness initiatives. He plans to talk to the members of the SGA executive board to figure out how he can start leading athlete enrichment programs including financial literacy. 

“I just want to help people,” Toma said. “Sports has always been something that interested me, and as I got older I stopped viewing athletes as just players and more as people who are also going to enter the workforce and work alongside me in the future.”

Braylen Childs was also elected for senator-at-large. He was not available for an interview by the time of publication.

Micayla McGowen, SGA president and senior marketing major from East End, Arkansas, said SGA is preparing for election season. She said students can submit an application by Feb. 28 to run for any senator seat they may qualify for. 

“It’s a really fun week where senators and those who are wanting to run for president and vice president give the opportunity to tell the university what they plan on doing, why they want to run and who they are and what seat they’re running for,” McGowen said.

Voting is open for all students with an Arkansas State University email. Campaigning begins March 12 at 12:01 a.m. and election results will be announced March 20 at noon.

Also in new business, Senator Farjana Swarna presented a resolution seeking to equalize tuition for international students. She said some students pay extra in tuition depending on where they are from. 

Swarna was not available for an interview by the time of publication. 

The resolution will be read for content at the next SGA meeting on Feb. 11.

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