One of the candidates interested in running for Student Government Association (SGA) President is junior Gill MacDonald. Originally from Cranston, Rhode Island, MacDonald is a student in the Psychology and Human Services department.
MacDonald is a commuter and works as a waitress in Lyndonville. She is a nanny and works at the information desk in the library on campus. Many students also know MacDonald from her role as a Peer Leader, a position she stepped into last year and is continuing throughout the 2020-2021 academic calendar. MacDonald is also part of WWLR, the campus radio station.
Her favorite part of NVU-Lyndon is the family-based community the student body has created. She said, “I feel our campus allows each student to represent [themselves] in their own unique way and everyone is truly accepted for who they are.”
According to MacDonald, the biggest issue NVU-Lyndon is facing is retention rates and declining student involvement. “If I am elected, my immediate plan is to focus on getting students more actively involved on campus, as well as focus on better and more widely spread advertising [for the university],” she told The Critic.
The SGA is supposed to listen to all of the student body’s concerns, opinions, or ideas, and then work together to find and executive creative solutions, in MacDonald’s opinion. She hopes to help improve the SGA by building and maintaining more trusting relationships with her peers. She admitted that communication is going to be very different this year with social distancing, physical attendance restrictions, and some of the student body learning remotely at home. MacDonald said she is excited to hold office hours where students can reach out to her and make herself available outside of those hours through Zoom, emails, and texting. “Representing a scattered student body will bring so many unique aspects to this position,” she said. “I will be able to learn about and expand my knowledge on many different majors, cultures, states, and individuals.”
Overall, MacDonald says, “I am the best candidate for this position because I am dedicated to working side by side with our student body to make sure everyone’s concerns are discussed and addressed.”
Students interested in voting for Gill MacDonald can do so by writing her name for SGA President when they fill out the online SGA ballot.
Feature Photo by Alexandra Huff