Written for The Argo by Samantha Flatten

On February 7, Stockton’s Student Senate sent out a mass body email stating that an emergency meeting was to be held in the next few days. Stockton’s student body all questioned and started to hypothesize what this meeting could actually be about. When the meeting date finally arrived, it happened to be an urgent student senator election due to the large gaps of positions gone unfilled.

During this meeting, five new senators were elected for various different positions under the Student Affairs, Finance, Governmental Affairs, Public Relations, Academic Affairs, and Diversity and Inclusion committees. These new senators are Jada Charles, Andrew Moreno Solano, Marliza Thomas, Tiana Rosario, and Dhikrat Odutayo, all of whom are excited to bring the senate back to its full potential and impose a sense of belonging among their fellow students.

When Kadan Ryan, a senior and president of Student Senate, was asked what he is most looking forward to in Student Senate regarding the new electees, he eagerly replied “I think that we [the senate] have operated at less than our full potential, but now we are ready to work with all 32 positions filled. With First-years, Seniors, and international students all working together, we truly embody the Stockton students.”

Jada Charles, a first year international student from the Caribbean, stated that she is most looking forward to “the experience since being an international student.” She noted that “the American college experience is still very new. I am also excited about meeting new people and to bring any positive changes I can to the Stockton community.”

The meeting concluded with a few closing remarks from the committee chairs. One in particular being Mia Torres, the Governmental Affairs chair who remarked that she is “excited that there is going to be more peers engaging in our efforts and…to move forward as a senate since we have spent so far into this semester talking about the vacancies and trying to fill them.”

Additionally, Torres gave insight into a tabling event that the Student Senate will be hosting regarding the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ act and what impact it will have on Stockton Students. She explained that “the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ was passed in July and impacts students’ financial aid since it will be stricter on who is eligible for loan caps and financial aid.

Changes in financial aid include funding cuts for lower paying programs determined by the major. “It’s personal based on student to student but we are tabling so students can grab and educate themselves on the matter.”

There will be more information coming soon regarding how the student senate relays this topic and what new projects await them in the near future.