August 8, 2026
2:21 pm, Forum 3-130, Downtown Campus Room 200B, Zoom
SGA Meeting Recording (please note there was a technical issue and there is no sound after minute 32:01)
In Attendance
Student Senators
- Senator- Alayna Smith
- Senator- Uruba Harris
- Senator- Josephine Pfenninger
- Senator- Sudan Gordon
- Senator – Amina Bachar
- Senator – Cassie Allen
President
- Gona Abdullah
Vice President of Governance
- Maniere Johnson
Vice President of Downtown Campus
- Anthony Flanders – Not present
Student Trustee
- Rusty Setanyak
Chief of Staff
- Kysjae Robinson
Secretary of Governance
- Christian Escalera Acevedo
Secretary of Staff
- Aniya Gates
Elections Coordinator
- Joyce Borbor
Office of Student Life
- Advisor: Jodi Oriel
- Faculty Advisor: Mark Sample
Visitors
- Ryan Messenger Academic & Student Services
- Dana Williams – MCC Student
- Ginny Geer-Mentry – MCC Association
- Eric Wheeler – Veteran Services
- Julie Babulski – Biology
- Chloe Allen – OSLLD
- Morganne Madonia – OSLLD
- Evette – PTK Student
- Terry Keys – Instructional Services
- Kim Delardge – Student Engagement DTC (online)
- Christine Cormack – VAPA (online)
Minutes
Call to Order (2:21pm)
- Roll Call (see attendance above)
Vice President Johnson called for a roll call to start the senate meeting. - Land Acknowledgement
- Approval of meeting minutes
Reports
-
President Abdullah
Hello everyone, my name is Gona Abdullah, and I am the President of Student Government. Over the past few weeks, Student Government has been working together to set our goals and priorities for the academic year. We had the opportunity to present our goals to President Burt-Nana and share what we hope to accomplish this year. We also arranged our office hours to make sure our team is available and accessible to students. In addition, we have been preparing for upcoming campus events by practicing for the September 11th Remembrance Ceremony and Constitution Day. I’m excited about the work we have ahead of us and look forward to continuing to represent and serve the MCC student body throughout the academic year. - Vice President Johnson
I am Maniere Johnson. My role on Student Government is that of the new Vice President for the Academic year starting from Fall 2026 to Spring 2027. I am a Liberal Arts student with a focus in Political Science. I had the great pleasure of attending multiple training sessions with my new members of Student Government. The team went on a trip as a team-building exercise and had a wonderful time. We then, as a new team, had the opportunity to meet the new students through orientation and introduced them to various clubs and organizations that are on campus, encouraging them to attend the Student Life Fair. Myself and the team had the opportunity to relay the main issues concerning students o campus and how they line up with vision 2027 and what we can do as a student body to help execute this effectively, by creating awareness around the rights of immigrant students in the community, creating signage for students getting to class promptly, how to properly use the resource which are our success coaches, extending the gym hours, expanding the reach of the college in underserved communities. I also had the luxury of interviewing some wonderful new team members for student government. I am excited, as the individuals we have chosen have exemplary qualities and will be dedicated to serving the student population. I am very optimistic about the goals we will strive to achieve. - Student Trustee Smetanyak
This week, the Student Government Association focused on preparations for the upcoming September 11th Memorial Ceremony. We reviewed the plans and responsibilities for the ceremony to ensure that the event is organized, respectful, and properly honors those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. SGA also met with the President of Monroe Community College and members of her leadership team to discuss our goals and priorities for the academic year. During the meeting, we focused on ensuring that SGA initiatives align with the College’s broader goals, policies, and commitment to providing a student-centered experience. Overall, the week provided an important opportunity for SGA to strengthen communication with College leadership, prepare for an important campus event, and continue developing goals that represent student needs while supporting the mission and direction of Monroe Community College. - Vice President Downtown Campus Flanders
Good Afternoon my name is Anthony Flanders. I would like to say that I count it to be a real pleasure to be opening up our 2027 semester right hear at. The downtown campus. Via zoom. We at the downtown campus look forward to all the great things this fall semester shall bring. I look forward to working with my new SGA team. We had the pleasure of doing orientation this summer. We had the pleasure of going to Darien Lake, having some fun together and we also had the pleasure of spending time with our president and presenting our goals. We look forward to uniting the MCC brand with the community it serves and making our brand a name to be reckoned with in this community. Thank you.
- Chief of Staff Robinson
Hello, my fellow Student Government Association (SGA) members. My name is Kysjae Robinson, and I am one of the newest members of the SGA, serving as the Chief of Staff, and I look forward to working with you. I am in my second year here at MCC as an upcoming psychology major and have not yet been trained on the full responsibilities of the Chief of Staff, but I am confident to say that I have been helpful in many different ways so far. I look forward to my future training and working alongside my wonderful colleague
- Secretary of Staff Gates
Good afternoon everyone, My name is Aniya Gates, and I am a psychology major here at MCC, where I now proudly serve as your Secretary of Staff. During my time in SGA, I have completed an in-person interview focused on my leadership abilities and competence. This interview was conducted by President Gona, Vice President Maniere, and our Student Trustee, Rusty. Furthermore, I have been informed of SGA’s previous resolutions to ensure that I remain proactive and prepared to contribute effectively moving forward. I have also discussed SGA’s expectations for being a respectful and engaged member, as well as the goals for upcoming events, including the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony and Constitution Day. Through pre-agenda meetings, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with fellow SGA members and highlight creative ways to increase student engagement and encourage greater participation in these events - Secretary of Governance Escalera Acevedo
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Christian Escalera, and I am, as of now, the Downtown Campus Senator. Throughout this past couple weeks, I underwent training for SGA and attended a meeting with the college president. It’s honestly been a great couple weeks since I got to volunteer helping the turbo vote push to encourage our student body to boat and to understand that every single vote counts. We also presented our goals for the 2026-2027 academic year to President Burt-Nanna, and how our goals in SGA align with the college’s goals, and try and work together to achieve such goals. We will continue to do our best to make this college even better. Thank you all for your support. - Club & Orgs Senator Harris
Hello everyone my name is Uruba Harris and I’m the club’s/org senator. I hope you all had a good start to the new semester! Last week I had the opportunity to meet with the college president and her team, where SGA discussed our primary goals for this term. In our SGA prep, we have begun rehearsing for the upcoming 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, and I strongly encourage students and staff to join us. Additionally, we’ve started active campus outreach to encourage students to register to vote ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. On the academic side, I had a very smooth and productive first week across all my classes and am excited for the rest of the semester. - Club & Orgs Senator Pfenninger
During the first week of school at MCC I went to our pre-agenda meeting on Tuesday, September 1st where I helped prep for our meeting with the President of MCC. We rehearsed our goals and talked about what order we would go in to present our goals in a timely manner. I had a great time talking with the President and her officers about SGA’s goals. Learning new incite from the President and her officers about MCC’s goals was very helpful. I also went to the 9/11 rehearsal later that day, where we went over who was doing what when. I had the opportunity Wednesday, September 2nd to help with tabling for voters’ registration. It was a great experience to really get out there and get involved with the student body. I hope to continue to learn and grow as the semester continues. - Diversity Senator Gordon
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everyone has had an eventful weekend and has enjoyed Labor Day. In the following of the first week of classes, I have had the pleasure of having a meeting with President Dr. Burt-Nanna and discussing our future plans for Student Government for year 26/27. In our plan, we discussed our pursuit of developing stronger peer-to-peer student relations and co-hosting monthly student voice and international resource workshops, in collaboration with campus advisors. In preparation for the 9/11 ceremony, my wonderful team and I began to finalize our plans and concepts for the event. - Health & Wellness Senator Bachar
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. My name is Amina Bachar, am a nursing student at MCC. and I am honored to serve as the SGA Health & Wellness Senator. As we move forward with SGA, I have been focusing on my role as the Health & Wellness Senator. My focus is on making sure students are aware of the resources and opportunities available to them. And what students’ needs are represented in SGA. I am also looking for ways we can increase student involvement and make SGA more visible and accessible to the MCC community.
- Residence Hall Senator Allen
Good evening, everyone! Hello, my name is Cassie Allen. I am the resident hall senator at MCC, and this will be my third semester here. Senator Smith and I worked on multiple orientations before the start of the school year, welcoming the new and returning students to MCC. We shared information on the clubs and organizations here at MCC and how student government is involved within the student body. This past week, I attended the executive leadership meeting with the rest of my fellow SGA members. The SGA team discussed our goals for the school year and how these goals aligned with the 2026-2027 vision. I worked with Senator Smith this past week, discussing how to get students to be more involved in school activities. The goal that we focused on was to get more students to participate in FYE activities, sporting events, and other activities held within the school. I attended the pre-agenda meeting this Friday that SGA holds from 12-12:50. In the meeting, we discussed what we would like to do for Constitution Day and who would be available to participate in this event. We, as a team, discussed more about what we would be doing for the 9/11 ceremony. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and enjoys the rest of their day. - Student Relations Senator Smith
Good afternoon, everyone! Over the last couple weeks, I have been very busy. I participated in a fellowship to get to know more about my fellow student government members, went through our last days of training, and helped our Student Life and Leadership Development Office team members with 4 orientations including the international orientation. While at the orientations, I engaged with students telling them about the club and organizations that the school offers, answered questions about what the Student Government Association does and when they meet, and got to know many new students. During the last days of training, we created goals for the year and ideas on how we can complete them. Finally, we had an executive leadership meeting where I helped present our goals to the President of the college and her team. I’m excited for what this year has to offer and can’t wait to get started on the goals we have set. - Elections Coordinator Borbor
- Student Life Advisor Oriel
Thank you everyone for your patience with the tech piece on the first meeting. Reminder the Student Leader Training is this Saturday and it’s mandatory, so please sign up. Sign up for the Student Life Fair. I look forward to the 9/11 rehearsal following our meeting. - Faculty Advisor Sample
I’m happy to be working with everyone on the 9/11 ceremony and voter registration.
Old Business
- There was no old business.
New Business
-
Resolution to approve the appointment of Christian Escalera Acevedo as the Secretary of Governance
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the appointment
of Christian Escalera Acevedo as the Secretary of Governance
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Allen so moved, seconded by Senator Smith.
Discussion: Christian has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the appointment of Christian Escalera Acevedo as the Secretary of Governance, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College -
Resolution to approve the appointment of Kysjae Robinson as the Chief of Staff.
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the appointment
Discussion: Kysjae has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
of Kysjae Robinson as the Chief of Staff
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Allen so moved, seconded by Senator Smith
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the appointment of Kysjae Robinson as the Chief of Staff, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College -
Resolution to approve the appointment of Aniya Gates as the Secretary of Staff.
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the appointment
of Aniya Gates as the Secretary of Staff
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Smith so moved, seconded by Senator Allen.
Discussion: Aniya has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the appointment of Aniya Gates as the Secretary of Staff, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College -
Resolution to approve removing Campus Activities Board from the SGA Bylaws and making it its own entity.
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the removal of Campus Activities Board from the SGA Bylaws and making it its own entity
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Smith so moved, seconded by Senator Allen.
Discussion: Campus Activities Board has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the removal of Campus Activities Board from the SGA Bylaws and making it its own entity, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College -
Resolution to approve the appointment of the Phi Theta Kappa officers.
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the appointment
of the Phi Theta Kappa officers
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Smith so moved, seconded by Senator Allen.
Discussion: Phi Theta Kappa has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the appointment of the Phi Theta Kappa officers, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College -
Resolution to approve the constitution change for Student Music Association
Resolved, the Monroe Community College Student Government Association approves the constitution change for Student Music Association
Vice President Johnson called for a motion to approve the resolution. Senator Smith so moved, seconded by Senator Gordon.
Discussion: Student Music Association has completed and met the requirements set forth by the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
A vote was taken, and the resolution passed.
Be it resolved, the senate present and voting hereby approves the constitution change for Student Music Association, effective 9/8/26, at Monroe Community College
Old Business
- There was no old business.
Speak to the Senate
- There was no one registered to speak to the senate this week.
Adjournment
- Vice President of Governance Johnson called for a motion for adjournment.
- Senator Smith so moved, seconded by Senator Allen.
- Meeting was adjourned at 3:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted