The newly elected members of Suffolk’s Student Government Association, SGA, are fresh off their weekend retreat and ready to get started.

“It really opened my eyes,” said junior Jenny Trieu about the retreat. “I didn’t know SGA had such an impact on the student body. I learned how much we put in to make a difference.”

A commuter student, Trieu plans to work hard to involve commuter and off-campus students more on campus. She said she looks forward to coming on campus more than she ever had before because of her involvement in SGA.

“It changed my mindset about school,” she said. “I love what I’m doing right now.”

Junior Isatta Coomber said the weekend was one of the best experiences she has had at Suffolk.

“I learned what kinds of people I work best with,” she added. “I’ve been involved all three years, but this is the first year that I know my voice will be heard.”

Coomber’s main goal for this year is to cater to the class of 2014. She plans to try and organize a junior weekend that leads up to senior week.

Freshman Matthew Gifford said the retreat was a bonding experience. He was happy with the results of the election and added that this is a good way to start revitalizing the SGA name across the Suffolk campus.

“We shared our goals and our enthusiasm,” Gifford said. “We’re willing to work together and share our ideas. This will be great for the future of SGA.”

For some of the new senators, this weekend provided knowledge that will help them going forward as they begin making changes at Suffolk.

“I learned from the retreat,” said sophomore Tyler LeBlanc. “I learned what’s realistic, what’s not. I’ve learned that some things are going to have more of a snowball effect while others can be done tomorrow.”

LeBlanc discussed the importance of creating a stronger school spirit by improving marketing for Suffolk athletics.

“We need to get everyone working together,” he said. “It needs to be unified, instead of everyone doing their own thing.”

Freshman Colin Loiselle also mentioned promoting the sports teams, saying that he hadn’t heard anything about them since he started at Suffolk in September.

“We really need to increase school spirit and get people excited,” he said.

Increasing the interest and involvement with the sports teams would create a stronger bond between students and the school.

“It’s just a bunch of bulidings,” explained Loiselle. “We need to unite the campus. We also need to do more to unite all the dorms.”

Loiselle also mentioned improving the cafeteria experience and plans to talk to Res Life and Sodexo.

“The variety and quality of the food is very limited,” said Loiselle, “and the prices can be outrageous.”

He also wants to work on putting quarter machines in the dorm laundries.

Senior Christian Cayo has another idea for bringing the school community together.

“I’m focused on getting the clubs connected so that they’re on the same page,” Cayo said. “We also need to inform students about SGA and get more people involved.”

The SGA senators are ambitious as well as passionate. Sophomore Carol Leon hopes to work at the United Nations in the future, but for now she’s excited to start making change at Suffolk.

“There are many issues we need to address,” Leon said. “I want to talk to commuters, to international students. I have the power to give a voice to my classmates.”

Plans to involve commuters and international students as well as those to promote school spirit and unite the dorms and clubs present a clear goal for this batch of SGA senators: to unite the campus and make Suffolk more of a community.  Each member encourages classmates to approach them with ideas, suggestions, or to seek help. The SGA exists on the strength of student voices and they welcome the chance to speak for you.