After two years holding the executive office, the president of SGA will be stepping down and making room for another student politician to lead the organization.
SGA President Logan Steigerwalt said, “I want this organization of 2016-2017 to be known as, ‘hey, that was a great start, that’s where we keep moving from.'”
“I think my biggest accomplishment will be getting SGA more well-known, like more out there,” Steigerwalt said. “I think my biggest thing will be the foundation, this is the foundation of SGA moving forward so being able to establish that, I feel like will be my biggest thing. Last year, we started a Thanksgiving dinner between all the units here in the suite, that’s been carried forward now. This year, we’ll try to start the Rock Olympiad, hopefully that’ll be an annual thing.”
Part of that foundation Steigerwalt talks about came with hosting a conference attended by 11 representatives of other state schools.
“We did host a conference here, hosting 11 of out of 14 state schools,” Steigerwalt said. “We had about 70 participants, and we had to tell them about what our SGA does. It was all of the other schools SGAs: Kutztown, Clarion, IUP, all them, and when they come here, they kind of ask what we do, because we are kind of the figure model of SGAs.”
Another accomplishment Steigerwalt has achieved while in office is successfully acting as a liaison of communication for the student body to administration.
“Strategic communication between administration, I would feel like that has happened,” Steigerwalt said. “Each of our members has meetings with the cabinet monthly, so we’re able to talk about things between them. We also have what’s called a link serve so if anything’s going on around campus that needs immediate attention, we can send an email to this specific address and it will disseminate it to all the people on that server, so that’s definitely been crucial. And having all the staff members filled in the suite area, I believe they’ve added five or six new people this year.”
Steigerwalt ran on these ideas, won and successfully implemented them.
“I think because we ran with a solid ticket, we had people that have served in the positions before,” Steigerwalt said.
In his last semester in office, Steigerwalt is still working hard.
“One other thing that I’ll highlight is, we want to do more in terms of on-campus students,” Steigerwalt said. “SGA definitely is a business, we also need to make it student-orientated, so how we’re able to do that is what we’re trying.”
Steigerwalt said he believes his outreach method of encouraging student body interaction contributed to the increased visibility of SGA.
“I feel like our outreach has definitely had an impact, and students know more about SGA,” Steigerwalt said. “I feel like, three years ago, if you asked 10 students, ‘do you know what SGA is,’ I’d say about three would say yeah, but I feel like now if you asked 10 students, ‘do you know what SGA is,’ five or six would say yes. So just even in three years, that’s a 50-100 percent jump in awareness, so I feel like that’s definitely good.”
A marketing major from Northampton, Pa., Steigerwalt followed his mother enrolling into SRU.
“All the buildings were pretty much up-to-date, the student center was brand new at the time and I did like the small class size ratio,” Steigerwalt said. “It was the only school I applied to and here we are.”
As far as SGA, Steigerwalt said that during his freshman year, friends already on SGA told him to join too.
After one semester, Steigerwalt was on the executive board.
“I was North Hall for a semester, the speaker of the senate graduated and I was kind of told to apply for it. I wasn’t really thinking about it, but the executive members: the president, vice presidents at the time were, ‘like hey, you should apply,’ so I did, and I won the spot.”
After that, Steigerwalt ran for president and eventually won, but he admits he wasn’t ready.
“Nope, not at all, I was not ready, I didn’t have the organization skills,” Steigerwalt said. “There was definitely a lot of on-the-job training that I did, but I feel like three months in, last year, I was good. But that initial three months, it was definitely a steep learning curve, which is why I was glad I was re-elected because it could just be smooth right in.”
However, Steigerwalt steered clear of his own doubt and ran to get the best out of himself.
“There was no one really stepping up to the plate and saying, ‘hey I’m going to run,’ so everyone was just looking around,” Steigerwalt said. “I do want to run businesses one day, become an entrepreneur, so I guess this was very similar. I always like to keep pushing myself forward, and forward, so last year I ran as president kind of because I could see myself doing the job.”
After a three-month adjustment period, Steigerwalt settled into his role as president which made his re-election bid a no-doubter in his mind.
“I re-ran to take everything I did learn and put into practice so there wouldn’t be that three months transition,” Steigerwalt said. “There’s also a lot of people you meet, and things you learn, so it wouldn’t have to be redone again. So, the president and I have a good relationship, we were able to transition that over, just different processes of how things are done, how to reserve rooms, marketing strategies, things that work, things that didn’t, you kind of just know from last year so that’s why I wanted to run.”
From his time as a North Hall senator to now, Steigerwalt said a change in culture has occurred in his office.
“SGA then, I felt like it was kind of cliquish, you came into this office and no one really knew too much about it,” Steigerwalt said. “Like I said, that was three years ago, and it was just kind of its own thing, it ran its own business, it did pretty well at it, but I feel like it didn’t strive to do more. And, comparative to now, I feel like we are definitely leaps and bounds ahead in terms of the doors always open, people feel comfortable. It’s weird, it’s actually a barrier. When I first started here, two years ago, people would stop at the door and not come in, but now we have students coming right in and asking questions, so I feel like that’s definite progress that I was able to see just sitting right there. ”
All in all, Steigerwalt is proud of his two-year presidential run.
“I feel like some people would give it an A, some people might not give it that,” Steigerwalt said. “You can’t please everybody, and that’s something I definitely did learn in this role.”
Steigerwalt, in his last semester in office, made one of his final addresses.
“To administration and staff, I’d say thanks for working with me,” Steigerwalt said. “I feel like we’ve definitely had some ups and downs during the past year in regards to relocation of offices, just different events going on around campus, keeping students in the loop. We definitely made progress on that, and I have appreciated working especially directly with the president.”
“To my staff, my advisers, without them, I wouldn’t be where I am,” Steigerwalt said.
“To my senators and exec members, without them, this organization wouldn’t be moving where it’s at,” Steigerwalt said. “As the president, you kind of just manage all different things.”
“To the senate members, I hope they’ve enjoyed it,” Steigerwalt said. “I know I’ve had a good time working with them, and I hope that they’ll continue to move forward, if not in SGA, in another club on campus.”
“Finally, to the next president, good luck,” Steigerwalt said. “It is a good time, I have no doubt. I’ve enjoyed this position a lot. You’ve got to have broad shoulders, if not, you’ll acquire them. Just have fun with it, and continue to move forward.”
Steigerwalt said he used to want to be the best SGA best president ever, but, over time, his perspective changed.
“The best president ever, that means the organization has not moved on since,” Steigerwalt said.
