With the beginning of a new school year at UNA, SGA will introduce a new opportunity for students’ voices to be heard. SGA is launching Ideas to Action, a campaign designed for students to interact with SGA to improve communication between students and their representatives.

“We’ve always been looking at ways to experiment, ways to reach out to students, and every year we (say) ‘we got to get out there and do it,'” said SGA President Ralph Akalonu. “I thought this year, as president, that we could initiate a campaign type of deal where we create a buzz for it and get people motivated and excited about it, especially for SGA to be able to reach out to students.”

Through the campaign, Akalonu hopes to accomplish two goals: to let the student body know what the SGA is doing and to hear feedback from students.

“If (students) thought about something that has been bothering them and they don’t know who to go to, (they see) that there’s an organization that can help … that is made up of your peers,” Akalonu said. “It’s that face time and interaction that I think is critical to any representative organization.”

Much of the campaign was planned by SGA members last summer and will be introduced Aug. 24 during the SGA open house.

In order to communicate face to face with the student body, the SGA hopes to hold monthly promos in areas highly populated by students, such as Towers Cafeteria, the GUC and others.

“We plan to have monthly events to promote Ideas to Action,” said Laura Giles, SGA chief of staff. “And we hope to connect with students.”

For Giles, the new program is a good opportunity for students to open up to UNA more than ever before.

“The whole purpose of SGA is to be the voice of the students,” said Giles. “We want to get them as a whole, not just a few.”

Some students are impressed by SGA’s new program.

“It sounds like a good idea,” said Morgan Massey, a UNA band member. “It should really get the students’ voices in and help us be heard more.”

“I know you can’t accommodate everyone’s opinion, but it’s a good idea to listen to students to find the commonality of a problem,” said UNA student Matt Daniels.

Akalonu strongly values the connection to the students that the SGA represents and hopes that Ideas to Action will continue long after his presidential term ends.

“We’re here to make students aware that there is an organization that is there to serve (them),” Akalonu said. “I hope that even after I’m gone that my successor will continue the program or tweak it however he or she deems fit, as long as the underlying purpose is achieved.”