The Student Services committee of student government met Tuesday to finalize events and establish timelines for programs this semester.
Director Allanah Morales opened the meeting by requesting senators take on one day of programming each for the healthy living week known as “A Better You at EMU.” Although they are no longer necessarily required to chair events, each present senator in the committee voluntarily chose a day to coordinate.
Newly elected vice-chair Kirk Suchowesky will be in charge of planning food and diet programming, which will revolve around general nutrition and dietary needs. It will feature resources such as guides to restaurants in the area which provide halaal, kosher, vegetarian/vegan and gluten free foods.
Sen. Anna Newmyer will be in charge of the exercise programming for the second day. The committee floated around the idea of a possible volleyball or basketball tournament for the various student organizations with a cash prize. They believe an event of that kind would attract many organizations and club sports including Greek Life chapters and organizations which stress healthy living.
Director Morales took tentative responsibility for the next two days of “A Better You at EMU.” The first revolves around sexual reproductive and bodily health and they are in the process of reaching out to organizations which promote it. The second relates to mental health. The committee wishes to place larger emphasis on mental health issues in the black and male communities, which don’t always receive the attention they require. Organizations like Active Minds and the Poetry Society have already expressed interest in collaborating for this day of programming.
The final day of the healthy living week will explore financial literacy and life planning and is under the direction of Sen. Lillian Pellerito. This area of healthy living is not often discussed and the committee seeks to bring attention to the way it affects the other areas of student life.
The committee is looking to finalize the details of “A Better You at EMU” over the next several weeks and are intending to plan it during a week it can be fully utilized and won’t conflict with Campus Life’s Self Care Fair.
Aside from planning the week of programming, the committee discussed planning an information session for the campus LGBTQ+ community and larger student body about the process of changing your preferred name and pronouns through my.emich.
Both sets of ideas are still in the planning stage and the Student Services committee feels confident that they will bring much needed conversations and resources to our campus community. Several members of the committee were unavailable for comment after the meeting as these plans are still being developed.
