Freshman Forum unites students

Student Writer Abby Heflin

Do you want to make new friends while planning events and making changes on campus? Freshmen Forum offers these opportunities to students.

Freshman Forum is a branch of the Student Government Association that allows freshman to voice their opinions on campus.  

“Freshman Forum serves campus by hosting social events for the student body, enacting laws and providing service opportunities for the students,” said freshman Marissa Deal.

Freshman Forum is the largest branch of SGA at UNA, Deal said.

“(Freshman Forum tries) to represent the freshman student body,” said Freshman Forum Adviser Kelsey Hyche. “That’s really their job because I know a lot of times being an upper classman, you’re not around freshmen all the time.”

The organization engages every new freshman class, but Freshman Forum is passionate about creating events and a campus presence that attracts the entire student body.

To apply, students need to go to orgsync.com and fill out an online application and choose an interview time, Hyche said.

Interviews are held at the beginning of each semester, Hyche said.

One such interview earned Deal a position in the fall 2015 Freshman Forum, she said.

Over 160 students applied, but 40 made the cut, Deal said. The group is then split into four committees, she said.

Freshman Forum put together many events in the past year, including free pancake dinners in the residence halls, a ‘Senior Prom’ for a local senior resident home and a campus Easter egg hunt, Deal said.

The pancake dinner was freshman Jason Sparks’ favorite event Freshman Forum planned, he said.

“Students are so much more open when we are gathered together around a table for a meal,” Sparks said. “(Freshman Forum) students put in so much time and effort and don’t ask for anything in return, (and it) is amazing.”

Freshman Forum also organized Taco Tuesday, Lion Lot, which gives students the opportunity to rent a parking spot or two and sell anything they want, and a leadership conference for high school students, Hyche said.

To find out what Freshman Forum  is doing on campus, go to florala.net.

Freshman Forum allows students to make changes on campus, Hyche said.

“They’ve also been working with the police department, making new rules and regulations for long-boarding just because especially in the parking deck sometimes you get close to hitting somebody.”

Freshman Forum was one of the best experiences 2015 freshman Georgia Clair Parks had at UNA, she said.

“Freshman Forum opened me up to possibilities on campus that I would have never known otherwise,” Parks said. “The connections I made and the people I met gave me insight into organizations, cultures and personalities I would not ordinarily be around.”

Junior Anna Long did not realize what an impact Freshman Forum would have on her college career, she said.

“Here I am my junior year, and Freshman Forum really jump-started the social network I have been able to make over the last three years,” Long said.