Big plans, sought to raise expectations for student senate, will be revealed Wednesday evening at the student senate meeting.

Maralea Negron, the student speaker of the senate and Brinton Vincent, the graduate advisor of the senate, seek to implement strategic plans that will focus on the overall success and improvement of the senate as a whole.

Negron seeks to reiterate the importance of Roberts Rules of Order, which define how senate meetings should be delivered, in order to ensure that future meetings run smoother and follow the agenda.

“Expectations are held above me on how meetings should be run,” said Negron.

Negron will also discuss the importance of professionalism at meetings; senators will be reminded to be mindful of what to say in order to maintain professionalism and avoid possible offensive comments.

Overall, Negron will encourage senators to participate in discussion all the while following Roberts Rules of Order and ensure that senators communicate with one another and feel welcome.

“Communication is definitely key to a successful senate,” said Negron.

Senators will also begin a series of developmental activities called senator sidelines, an initiative started by Vincent that will take place at every student senate meeting.

Senator sidelines is intended to strengthen senators’ abilities, improve their event planning, and work on team building in the senate said Vincent.

The first event will focus on event planning.

Senators will break off into their designated committees and choose a possible location of an event, a budget to work with and a registered student organization to cooperate with, said Vincent.

“The purpose is to boost and strengthen relationships between senators that are currently building. We want student government to be the best that we can be and that’s why we need to strengthen our abilities,” said Vincent.

Ceci Brinker, the student government advisor, said the executives would then emphasize what may need to be improved and teach the key components of planning an event.

“(Executives) want to see what senators come up with and then fill in the blanks and explain why certain things are crucial to planning an event,” said Brinker.

With committees running smoother, they can focus on implementing their ideas to the community, said Negron.

Jose Durbin, the committee chair for student academic affairs, will discuss his committee’s event for midterm week, which is the week of Oct. 14.

Durbin plans to sell Blow Pops and Airheads in front of Booth Library in the hopes that it will give students the encouragement to get through midterms and help lower stress.

Durbin will also address his project to the senate on Wednesday and will inform them of his budget for the event as well as discuss another up-and-coming event called the “Game of Life,” which will aid undecided majors in pinpointing their interests.

Jasmine Thomas, the committee chair for student affairs, will also discuss a tailgating event along with four other events that her committee came up with, which will encourage school spirit.

“We want to start a tradition,” Thomas said, “And we want students to have more fun and to remember the college experience.”

All the committees plan to discuss their list of initiatives set to take place during the coming months at Wednesday’s meeting.

Analicia Haynes can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected]