The Senators of the 2030 Class
As the class of 2030 are getting themselves settled into their new college lives, a new generation of student leaders are also finding new opportunities to get themselves involved in our community such as in clubs and sports.
Two such students, Nigella Johnson and Shavonte Dixon, are going above and beyond to represent the class of 2030 in the Student Government Association (SGA) here at Dean College. The Dean Daily had the pleasure of talking to both Johnson and Dixon in an exclusive interview. We discussed a number of topics such as why they ran for SGA and what their goals will be as senators.
We first spoke to Shavonte Dixon, a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Dixon has always had a passion for dancing since she was 7 years old, even growing up in a small dancing studio. Throughout her dancing career, Dixon has participated in about four to seven competitive dance competitions. After graduating from a trade school, Dixon decided to continue her dancing career through Dean College. One of the questions we had for her was why she wanted to get herself involved in SGA.
Her response was that "in high school, I really wasn't involved. I was just focused strictly on dance...I wanted to be involved but I just didn't have the time to be involved in my high school. I got to be a little bit involved as I went through the years, especially in business. We ran this small little business that our high school had, and we got to create apparel and stuff like that. It really interested me, so coming here my RA is Jamie, so she was just telling me about all these leadership skills. When we first came here, there was this performance meeting talking about SCL which is kind of funny I felt confused. So, I thought they (SGA) were the same thing. But I'm still totally proud of being in SGA and being for the whole community and stepping out of my comfort zone. My main thing is being their voice...I want to help. I really want to get acclimated into this community."
We then asked Dixon about how she felt during the election process. She said that "it was nerve-racking but I kind of had a little prep at this because senior year I did run for homecoming queen and I was able to get top five at my high school. So, it was basically the same process, you know making your own poster, which I love creating, I love getting into it...and also, I made cute little handouts that were on a starburst. Like 'be a Starburst with excitement to vote for Shavonte for SGA'...that whole creative aspect gets me going."
We then moved to what she wanted to accomplish this year in SGA. She said that "for the most part I think definitely throughout the year my goal will change because I am still learning about this community. As of right now, I want to be a voice for my class, I have a good time talking to people, I try to be as open and just having everyone be comfortable to come to talk to me. I want people to know that it's okay to come up to me and talk to me about their concerns and have that person they can do that with. I think as I go to the meetings, I think I can be a good idea maker. If there is a situation, there needs to be a solution, I'm pretty much geared to that."
Our final question for Dixon was the issue of washing machines; it has been a hot topic among students as a petition has been spreading on social media to make washing machines free for all student residents.
When asked about the issue, Dixon said that "I really want everyone to be able to be here and be financially stable because I am someone who I think doesn't really have the financial need to be buying laundry, that's why I am local so I have the access to go home and bring my laundry. So, I'm not struggling like everyone else but I see concerns with it, going about it I definitely think it is hard because there has been money situations where it may not be financially stable or able for the school to provide that for us and I think that is understandable. But maybe there is an alternative like a bigger laundry machine because they are small, and you do have to do multiple loads a day just to get one basket done. I understand people's frustrations with it, but I also understand the financial side of it. I think there can be a meet in the middle situation that we could probably provide for our class."
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We also spoke to Nigella Johnson, originally from Falmouth, Massachusetts. During her time at Tech school, she studied health technologies which gave her a lot of experience and licenses in health care. She is here attending Dean College, majoring in Biology. She also values our small community here, feeling a connection to the people in smaller communities than bigger schools in Massachusetts. She hopes to be a doctor and to someday work in women's health care.
We asked Johnson the same question, "Why did they get involved with SGA?" She responded by saying that "Well I didn't expect to get the position honestly. But I wanted to get involved because I feel like, as freshman, we do tend to struggle with bringing up any problems or concerns that we may have on our campus. So, knowing me I'm outspoken, and I feel like somebody who has that quality would be very important and very crucial as a representative. So, SGA and the things that they do is very important as well. I was also involved in student council in high school, so I wanted to continue that."
The Dean Daily also asked Johnson how she felt during the election. She said that "my election, it was pretty silly, I didn't have a whole lot of experience that I wanted in high school. Simply because I didn't get the position that I wanted, and I didn't really do enough, so I was like 'why don't I try a new approach' and so I used social media with my campaign and with my election. The campaign itself was very fun, I got to interact with a lot of the students here, met other people and other kids, which was very helpful. It all ties in together very nicely, I used Tyler the Creator, who is one of my favorite artists. It was a really fun process and the election itself was so nerve-racking, it's so nerve-racking and I really want the position because I know that I want to make a big impact and so it meant a lot to me when I got the position. When I found out, I was in the middle of lunch, I took out my email while I was eating, and I was like 'shoot I got it!'"
As for what she hopes to accomplish as senator for SGA, Johnson stated "number one, I want to make sure that everyone feels heard, I feel like sometimes not everybody has the chance to really speak up, so I want to hear from people who don't typically talk a lot. I want to make sure everyone is comfortable; that's the first thing. Second thing I also want to see changes in the dining halls and resident halls. I was told that sometimes they want to see different foods, more cultural foods in the dining hall, and why not bring that up? I have some friends from Haiti and some friends from Japan, so why not have that happen. I also feel like in the resident halls, I was thinking we could add like little baskets for the girls and some baskets for the guys that has some goodies like hygiene and all that, I feel like that would be very helpful. Because I know that some people may not have access to it, so that would be pretty nice."
The Dean Daily also was able to question Johnson about her thoughts about the washing machine petition spreading on social media. When asked, she said that "I really want the freshman to feel comfortable with voicing their opinions and being heard. And so that even before SGA got to meet, some of us freshman got comfortable enough to really speak out on an issue that their having. I think it's great that were speaking up about something, that and maybe some people might not agree, or some people may agree, I feel like that is a good thing to bring up. I think it is a good idea to speak up about something that is bothering you, I think it takes a lot of courage."
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