Student Empowerment

Hello Everyone,

To everyone who had the opportunity to visit this past weekend, thanks for coming and I hope everything was swell. The Ambassadors, including me, were out in force all day on Saturday as well as involved in the Laker Live-in night. As always, if you have any questions, please Please PLEASE email or comment and I will be more than happy to answer or find the answer to your questions.

So you must be wondering why I entitled this post the way I have, "Student Empowerment". It sounds powerful now that I look at it again, but none-the-less fitting. You might remember from reading my bio that I have been around Mercyhurst for quite some time with going to the Mercyhurst Prep High School, and all of my experience at Mercyhurst has taught me how much Mercyhurst empowers its students. Student empowerment was something that struck me very well in high school and now overwhelms me as it has taken on a whole new level here. I am obviously biased toward Mercyhurst, but I just want to give you a perspective on why I think the authority and initiative that Mercyhurst grants its students is so cool.

First, I want to give you a story that played out last year. Around this time every year the Mercyhurst Student Government sends out a survey, which talks about the events they run and different things they do. Last year was no different and Student Government asked if their were any changes students would like to see happen. The response was overwhelming for them to add full locker rooms to the fitness center. So, student government, having the resources and abilities that they have, took the students wishes to the board of trustees (which the president of student government is actually a member of) and had the plan approved. Student government was able to place their own funds toward the project and other school funds to make new looker rooms with showers to replace the old generic changing area that formerly existed. This is the latest example of the student governments influence, but cases like this are repeated throughout our college community.

Finally, the reason that I bring this up, and I'm going to tease you here, is because recently I have been given the opportunity to make a different as a student. It is a tease because I cannot fully tell you what I am working on yet as I have to wait for the appropriate approvals to go through, but I have been given the opportunity to work with one of my professors to bring about a change that we have both been thinking about. I know that this project will be great practical experience that will one day be able to help me get a job, and I am excited to be a part of it. Now, if you want to get a little more information you could try emailing me, but for now this is all I can say. I am excited to be apart of this project and I know that it is because of the connections that I have at Mercyhurst that I am able to do this. Stay tuned for updates as this grows in the next couple weeks.

I hope my teaser wasn't too bad, but this is just the latest example of what I have to say really counts, which I think will be a great experience to have and will certainly help me in the future. Mercyhurst is a community and that only benefits its students. 

Thanks for reading,
Joe