April 21, 2026<\/p>\n
2:15pm, Forum (Room 3-139A), Downtown Campus Room 200B, Zoom<\/p>\n
Student Senators<\/strong><\/p>\n President<\/strong><\/p>\n Vice President of Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n Vice President of Downtown Campus Student Trustee<\/strong><\/p>\n Chief of Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n Office of Student Life<\/strong><\/p>\n Visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n Call to Order (2:16 pm)<\/p>\n Good afternoon everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It\u2019s great to see you all again. No report for this week<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t I am pleased to be running for re- election. For the Vice President of the Downtown Campus I have gotten all of my election and campaign business in order. I would like to thank Jody and Melissa for their assistance in making that happen. Now that I have gotten midterms out of the way. I plan to start working hand and hand with our Workshop staff to obtain grant money for them to be included in the school free meal programs. I would also like to invite our President along with our Vice President to come to the Downtown Campus this week for a meet and greet. Monday or Wednesday. I sincerely believe that it is in the best interest of the students at the Downtown Campus to be able to meet and greet with their student Leaders. This would be a great opportunity for our panel to bridge the gaps. To have a chance to be seen and inspire!! Not a lot of our students know who are student leaders are. This would be a great opportunity for our panel to bridge the gaps. This would be big for our younger female students to be inspired by your success. Please and Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t Maybe a little late to say this, but hopefully we\u2019ve all had the chance to have a much-needed restful break! Mine was great, however much of it was spent working and prepping ahead for the National Model United Nations conference in Manhattan, NY the following week of April 6-10th. This trip was one of my favorites to go on outside of traveling to capitol hill to advocate for students on the federal level. For context, this is for an honors class called Model United Nations which is taught by Professor Joseph Scanlon, Shirley Provost, Louis Silvers and each year, a head delegate that had taken the class prior – Shawn Sanchez. The way in which the class is split up is first part, learning all about the United Nations and how it operates, including the decades of history surrounding it. Simultaneously, we are tasked with a partner which we met multiple times a week researching our designated committee (UNHCR) whilst taking the delegation of Hungary’s stance. In addition, every committee had to write one of the most complex papers I’ve ever had to write. The proposition paper where we had to put in writing all of the SDG\u2019s, NGO\u2019s, speeches on record, quotes from academic journals all just to take Hungary\u2019s stance on our committees to base it off in the conference. I felt as if every sentence had some sort of statistic imbedded in it. On top of this, we learned the intricate rules and procedures of the actual UN like motioning for a suspension of the meeting, adjournment of debate, closing the speakers list, voting procedures, and a lot more. This prepped us for the conference which we also included practicing simulations and public speaking every single week. Without a doubt \u2013 this class has taken up my time like no other, but I had an absolute blast spending every second of it with my partner and the amazing group of students in the class. Like mentioned before, this conference was packed full of 8:30am-10:30pm days tasked with public speaking in front of 150 everyday whilst constantly collaborating with other college students from BYU, Suffolk University, University of Hohenheim (Germany), etc. To work together on working papers, later resolutions, to find a middle ground in policy making and strategy for our committees. Good afternoon everyone, Over the past week, I have dedicated my time to my academic responsibilities and to preparing for the upcoming end of the semester. Along with the upcoming clothing giveaway happening soon.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t This week I continued staying engaged with SGA activities while also balancing my academic commitments. With SGA elections approaching, I have been following the process closely and staying informed on the different positions and responsibilities, as well as encouraging student participation in voting. No report for this week<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t No report for this week<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t This week has been very positive and productive. I have been preparing to attend the SUNY SA Spring Conference, and I am very excited for the opportunity to attend with the team on behalf of Monroe Community College. I am looking forward to learning more about leadership, student advocacy, and ways I can grow through this experience. I have also been working on improving my performance with assignments and strengthening my contributions within SGA. I am continuing to develop in my role and look forward to collaborating more with the team moving forward.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t Since I didn’t have a report last week I wasn’t able to mention this, but we did have the SUNY SA conference just a little over week ago and I just wanted to say that I enojoyed the experience and was able to take away alot from going. Since then, the semester is close to wrapping up. I believe we have 3-4 weeks left, so it is my hope that we’ll be able to make the most of these last few weeks, continuing the work that we’ve been doing here in SGA and our Academic work as well. On athletic matters, I know previously I have commented on our sport teams performance’s and ongoings, but really I feel that for the most part, a lot of information concerning performances and other matters concerning our teams can really be found on our mcc tribunes page, so for the most part I will refrain from commenting too much on such matters. Although, I will try and periodically report some of the ongoings of our teams. For me, I’m looking to do my best to finish this semester and other that I suppose athletically i’m looking forward to the summer, where I hope to find time to play basketball and possibly swim and also i’m looking forward to the next semester where I’ll be competing on our swim team, and hopefully by that point we will have a few new additions to the team as well. Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> Pride Alliance has submitted a funding request in the amount of $108 to support a visit to the Memorial Art Gallery and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the visit will take place on May 7, 2026 from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM with 15 students and one advisor in attendance and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the purpose of the visit is to connect MCC students with the Rochester community while promoting critical thinking through artistic expression and freedom and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> participation in this event will encourage student engagement, foster community connection, and provide an opportunity for students to experience and appreciate art in a cultural setting and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the total cost of admission is $135, with Pride Alliance contributing $27 and requesting $108 to cover the remaining balance and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> students will utilize carpooling or public transportation to attend the event, minimizing additional costs and demonstrating responsible planning and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> said financial request has been reviewed and meets the standards of the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t RESOLVED,<\/strong> that by the Senate present and voting, $108 from the Student Government Association Contingency Account be allocated to the Pride Alliance for admission to the Memorial Art Gallery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the Robotics Club has submitted a funding request in the amount of $3,296.40 to support attendance at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 28th Annual Model Design Competition and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the competition will take place from June 21, 2026 through June 23, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with six students and two advisors in attendance and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> participation in the American Society for Engineering Education Model Design Competition will provide students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a competitive, hands-on engineering environment while representing Monroe Community College on a national level and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the total cost of the trip is $5,494, with $1,800 to be raised through fundraising efforts and $600 contributed by participating students, demonstrating shared financial responsibility and commitment and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> the requested funds will support essential travel expenses including flights, lodging, and transportation and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t WHEREAS,<\/strong> said financial request has been reviewed and meets the standards of the Student Government Association and the Office of Student Life and Leadership and,<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t RESOLVED,<\/strong> that by the Senate present and voting, $3,296.40 from the Student Government Association Contingency Account be allocated to the Robotics Club to support attendance at the American Society for Engineering Education 28th Annual Model Design Competition.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Respectfully submitted<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 21, 2026 2:15pm, Forum (Room 3-139A), Downtown Campus Room 200B, Zoom In Attendance Student Senators Senator Maddilyn Keech Senator Elle Reeves Senator John Breedy Senator Rusty Smetanyak Senator Bodhi Blaska President Lisa Burno Vice President of Governance Margherita Rizzuti Vice President of Downtown Campus Anthony Flanders Student Trustee Parker Werven Chief of Staff Abigail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":724,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meeting-minutes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.monroecc.edu\/sga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t
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Minutes<\/h2>\n
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\nVice President Rizutti called for a roll call to start the senate meeting.<\/li>\n\t\n\t
\u00a0Reports<\/h3>\n
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\nOn April 10, I had the opportunity to attend the SUNY SA Conference alongside members of my team. It was a valuable experience where we were able to connect and collaborate with student leaders from across SUNY. As a voting delegate, I had the responsibility of voting on resolutions that will have a direct impact on SUNY schools. Two of those resolutions were presented by our Clubs and Organizations Senator, Rusty Slav. Seeing both resolutions pass was an exciting moment, and I am incredibly proud of him for taking that initiative. The growth I\u2019ve seen in him over this past year has been truly impressive.
\nAdditionally, on Friday, April 17, Vice President Rizzuti and I attended a meeting in preparation for graduation, as it is quickly approaching.
\nI would also like to extend a congratulations to members of our team who attended the Model UN Conference Parker Werven, Margarita Rizzuti, and Rusty Slav who received the Distinguished Delegate Award. I am extremely proud of all of you for continuing to represent MCC in such a positive light. This award is a reflection of your hard work and dedication.
\nLastly, I spent much of the week preparing and planning for upcoming elections, including meeting with candidates and discussing their campaigns. Overall, it has been a very productive week for my team and me.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t
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\nLike stated before, it was not easy to be Hungary in a committee specific to refugee advocacy but being strong public speakers and great people to work with \u2013 we absolutely crushed it. We didn\u2019t do this for the sole purpose of awards, although my partner Nav and I got slightly robbed. The real award was the friends we made along the way. Though we did win a group award \u201cDistinguished Delegates\u201d in front of thousands of people, which was kind of cool. In all seriousness, I have zero regrets taking this class\/experience and to those listening or reading the tribune at home, please ask questions about this course. In my opinion, this is one of the best experiences I\u2019ve had through MCC and I cannot recommend it enough. Thank you, professors, head delegate, former delegates, and current delegates. This was an unforgettable experience that also without a doubt has opened my eyes to so many diverse political views and backgrounds of other nations. To not beat a dead horse, I want to reiterate that the real award was the unbelievable people I was able to create new memories with \u2013 in very stressful situations throughout the conference, might I add.
\nNow that we\u2019re done with that \u2013 I’m happy to finally announce my campaign for President of SGA in the upcoming elections which start May 4th-7th. As some of you may giggle at my complex Senate reports, many of you must know by now, my unwavering efforts to student advocacy and support systems. Whether that is on campus, on the state or even federal level, I have never stopped giving up on an opportunity for all. I\u2019ve already seen incredible support on my campaign trail so far, and I cannot do this alone. This is not my fight, it\u2019s ours. Vote Parker Werven for President of SGA, someone who has the experience of day one advocacy, someone who is visible on campus day in and day out, someone who sits and listens to every students struggle. Thank you everyone, and in Model UN language, I yield my remaining time to the chair.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t
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\nThis has been a very productive week. From April 10th to April 12th, I attended the SUNY SA Conference with my team. The conference included elections for the upcoming 2026\u20132027 academic year, and I would like to congratulate all of the newly elected candidates. Although the conference was long, it was an enjoyable and valuable experience overall.
\nOn Thursday, April 16th, I attended the Faculty Senate meeting in place of Vice President Rizzuti. It was very informative to hear campus-wide updates from various departments and to share what Student Government has been working on. Later that day, I attended the SWE 007 event, a social hosted by the Society of Women Engineers here at MCC, along with students from RIT and the University of Rochester. It was a great event filled with engaging conversations and opportunities to build new connections. I would like to thank the officers of SWE for putting together such an incredible event.
\nI have also been working on the Earth Day Trivia event alongside Club & Org Senator Reeves in collaboration with the Biology Club. This event will take place tomorrow, April 22nd, in the Forum at noon. There will be five rounds of trivia, and prizes will be given out after each round. I encourage anyone who is available to come out, participate in the Kahoot, and have a chance to win some great prizes.
\nThank you.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t
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\nIn addition, I participated in my Model UN class trip to Cornell University, where we had the opportunity to hear from a former United States ambassador. This experience provided valuable insight into diplomacy, international relations, and real world applications of topics we discuss in class. It was especially helpful in strengthening my understanding of global policy and negotiation, which connects directly to both my academic goals and leadership development.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\t
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\nMelissa<\/strong> is currently out of the office.
\nAbigail<\/strong> met with faculty from the Biology Department. Congratulations were extended to Abigail for her initiative and engagement in strengthening collaboration with academic departments.
\nParker<\/strong> was recognized and congratulated for presenting and speaking on these updates.
\nA reminder was provided regarding upcoming SGA elections<\/strong>, and best wishes were extended to all candidates.
\nAppreciation was expressed for Samantha Power<\/strong>, who visited MCC in 2018, highlighting the lasting impact of her engagement with students.
\nA reminder was given for the Clubs and Organizations Awards<\/strong>. Club leaders are strongly encouraged to apply. The application deadline is Friday, April 17th<\/strong>.
\nThe Awards Ceremony<\/strong> will be held on May 15th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nOld Business<\/h3>\n
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New Business<\/h3>\n
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Speak to the Senate<\/h3>\n
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Adjournment<\/h3>\n
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