Hysen sworn in as SGA president

Junior Eric Hysen was sworn in as president at noon last Thursday in the SGA office before several members of the 2006-2007 SGA cabinet, marking the beginning of Hysen's term of office and the end of senior Barun Aryal's administration.

Thursday also marked the beginning of service for all of Hysen's appointed staff, including cabinet members.

He preceded the beginning of his term with an after-school meeting in room 158 on Wednesday with next year's SGA officials, including cabinet members, deputies, class council members and senators, in which all appointments were made official through a vote of the Senate. Vice-President Molly Martinez, a sophomore, whose term began with Hysen's, chaired the meeting and explained the workings of the restructured SGA to the assembled officials.

At Martinez's direction, the senate elected junior Morgan Aronson as Senate President. Aronson, whose duties as Senate President comprise coordinating, organizing and directing Senate meetings as well as reporting Senate business to the SGA cabinet, then assumed the chair for the remainder of the meeting.

In an address to the assembled officials, Hysen announced that his administration would undertake several new initiatives next year, including an increase in the involvement of clubs in the SGA. He explained the creation of a new SGA body, the Activity Council, to "facilitate collaboration between clubs, provide feedback to the SGA, and assign grants from the SGA budget to various clubs." Under his plan, each registered club would send its president or a representative to the council, which would meet at least once per semester.

Hysen also pledged to enhance the club grant process and to work towards more inclusive activity fairs and SAC performances during lunch. "We're hoping to give clubs a chance to do really innovative things for their members and the Blair community," he explained.

Hysen said that another one of the SGA's central thrusts in the 2006-2007 school year will be to hold more spirit and community events. He said he would try to hold more pep rallies and dances, adding that hosting three pep rallies and a winter formal were among his priorities. Hysen also spoke highly of the recent Blazer Bash dance and said that he hopes to make it a regular event at Blair. "We want to really make it a part of Blair tradition," he explained, noting that future Blazer Bashes could be made more popular through increased publicity. He said that community-oriented events, such as a blood drive or an expanded food drive, would also work to increase school spirit.

Hysen was optimistic about his outlook for next year's SGA. "I'm very confident and optimistic going into the next year," he said. "I feel we've put together an amazing group of students who are going to work tirelessly to help the student body." He attributes the SGA's current success to the hard work of his predecessors, Sebastian Johnson and Barun Aryal, both of whom graduated on Monday. He explained that Johnson's goal was to reform the SGA and Aryal's goal was to institute effective operation. He described his term as "the last part of what is really a three year plan—hearing more of the student voice, not just the voice of SGA members."

He explained that part of achieving his goal of increased student involvement will be creating a greater awareness of SGA activity. "In order to be really successful, I don't just want to do a lot more; I want to make sure people know about it," he explained. Hysen added that he would fulfill his goal by increasing communication through Silver Chips and BNC, as well as by making all SGA documents available online.