First-year student involvement opportunities

Utah State University Student Association’s Executive Council met on Sept. 4, 2023, for their weekly meeting. This meeting consisted of talks about Weeks of Welcome and Camp out on the Quad. At the council meeting, the decision to dissolve a first-year director position was made.  

Very little is known about what this position entailed. The proposal was left from the spring semester. It was reviewed by Vice President Emily Smilanich and Public Relations Director Carter Ottley. This is who would have appointed the position had it not been dissolved.  

“The idea is that there was a first year director, it was just a singular freshman who would basically be the voice for the freshman class,” Smilanich said.  

This directorial position meant there would be first-year positions from sub-committees such as the HURD. They would all meet under the first year director, thus making an entirely brand new committee in itself.  

According to the Executive Council meeting minutes from Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, the purpose of the committee was to improve the experience of first-year students, as well as provide more opportunities for first-year students who wanted to get involved.  

The decision to dissolve this position was ultimately made for a multitude of reasons.  

“When we came into office we looked at the charter and legislation, it wasn’t very clear what they are actually supposed to do,” Ottley said. 

The two committee members explained the position was not given any legislative responsibilities or budgeting. This means the first year director would have no money to host events with and would have very little power in meetings.  

Ultimately Smilanich and Ottley decided to dissolve the position.  

USU sees a lot of what are referred to as non-traditional first-year students. Examples of these students are graduate students, first generation college students and older students. 

There is a senator over graduate studies specifically, and the Director of Diversity and Organizations, Alex Garces, oversees Diversity Week and all the USU organizations that are diverse-specific.  

“A lot of our non-traditional students are at our regional or state wide campuses,” Ottley said.  

Each campus has regional leadership that represents them.  

If first-year students are looking to get involved, USUSA hosts lots of events that they can attend. The most notable is Weeks of Welcome, which are two weeks worth of events such as the Big Agg Show and Day on the Quad. 

First-year students can also join student events committees. This includes the series, traditions and events committees. Each team hosts events such as PoBev, The Howl and Homecoming.  

Students who want to have their voice heard specifically by the executive council can refer to MyVoice.  

Started in 2015, MyVoices can be submitted online through the USU website, or there is a MyVoice widget on each student’s MyUSU portal.  

“People can submit concerns, questions or comments they have about the University, and then those MyVoices are directly sent to us officers,” Smilanich said.  

Each MyVoice submission goes directly to a student officer depending on their role. Student Advocate Vice President Tyson Packer is directly over MyVoice and is in charge of making sure each committee member reads their MyVoices.  

“There are still many students who don’t know about it or how to use it,” Packer wrote in an email.  

Each submission includes name, A-number, email, type of MyVoice as well as which campus they attend. Statewide campuses have their own committees that MyVoices go to. 

“MyVoice does a great job in building a connection between students and their elected student representatives. It can help any student, traditional or non-traditional, to find their voice and speak up about things that concern them,” Packer said.