The Student Government Association outlined the goals they hope to adhere to and accomplish throughout the 2016-17 school year.

The goals are to connect students to campus resources, increase school spirit and student involvement, be good stewards of financial resources and enhance campus beautification.

“We set (the goals) at the SGA retreat,” said SGA President Sarah Green. “We kind of did a couple of brainstorming sessions as to what was important to SGA.”

The group considered what each executive officer campaigned for and whether or not the goals were specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

“Our main focus this year in setting our goals was that we wanted our goals to be something that if any student on this campus were to ask us what they meant, they would be able to understand it,” Green said.

As the semester comes to an end, the organization reflects on their performance with the goals this semester.

1. To Connect Students to Campus Resources

SGA tried to accomplish connecting students to campus resources through events like Take Back the Night, which connected students to the Title IX Office and the Veterans Day Ceremony which connected students with the Military and Veteran Service Center, Green said.

Although SGA is connecting students to resources on campus, students should know those resources might not completely solve their issues, said senior Jackson Wynn.

“Saying that you have this resource to go to if something bad happened to you doesn’t fix the problem,” Wynn said.

At the monthly president’s cabinet, a meeting SGA holds between registered student organization presidents, sometimes SGA invites people from different campus resources to speak.

At the last meeting, Director of Athletics Mark Linder attended and discussed UNA Athletics Connect 1 campaign, an initiative encouraging students to make more fact-to-face interactions with each other instead of relying on their phones.

SGA also plans to provide students with information on a campus resource each week on their social media accounts, Green said.

2. To Increase School Spirit and Student Involvement

SGA has accomplished several tasks to increase school spirit, Green said.

“The former SGA president (and I) met with Mark Linder, and we got the student section moved to the home side of the football stadium,” Green said. “I think that’s really helped this year with school spirit. We have the new tailgate location, and tailgates have been really good this year with SGA.”

Junior Kati Roberts said SGA could increase school spirit and student involvement at the games.

“I think they should offer more incentive for students to go to the game so more will come,” Roberts said.

Green said she thinks the organization is seeing more student involvement from a more diverse student population with events like giving away tickets to Arx Mortis and People Loving and Nurturing Their School, an event that allowed students to plant their own herbs.

“We’ve had a lot of unique events this year in (the University Program Council) — things that we’ve never seen in the past in SGA,” she said.

3. To be Good Stewards of Financial Resources

“SGA has done good with the events and entertainment on campus and the other ways they have spent money,” said senior Chao Ma.

Students need to hold SGA accountable for this goal, Green said.

“We want students to know that we do have a great responsibility,” she said.

Healthy debate over when to spend money and educating themselves on where exactly the money comes from helps SGA members make strong decisions about when to spend it, she said.

“My favorite thing to hear whenever we’re talking about money is, ‘Is this something the students actually want?’” Green said.

4. To Enhance Campus Beautification

“When running for Vice President of Senate, campus beautification was one of my areas of focus,” said SGA Vice President Tyler Delano.

SGA is working with Facilities Administration and Planning to possibly obtain new seating and drainage systems at Memorial Amphitheater and an area behind the Guillot University Center, Delano said.

“It seems like a good idea to do the seating and drainage systems at the amphitheater,” said senior Orrin Huntley. “It could really use it, and that would be a great use of funds. I have no issues with what they have done so far. “

SGA is researching and ranking areas on campus for future projects that could use sprucing up, Green said.