It’s 2:15 a.m. and rain pours over the student parking garage. Me and 41 other students are huddling under cover waiting for a bus to Tallahassee.
I was assigned to cover Wednesday’s “USF Day at the Capitol” the night before. It’s an annual trip for all three campuses that enlists students to descend on state legislators pushing pre-planned initiatives important to the university system.
Students also get an inside look at how the capital functions.
The St. Petersburg campus’ agenda was complex and a little confusing. Students were to request $2.5 million to fund the Degrees of Strategic Emphasis Initiative in order to stimulate the production of STEM degrees.
Additionally, students wanted to strengthen the relationship with the surrounding STEM community and attract high-tech industry to the area.
The university also requested half a million dollars in order to fund existing programs that focused on “student perseverance.” Your guess is as good as mine.
That money would go to help sustain programs like the Student Success Center and COMPASS, which I’m sure you’re familiar with.
As we exited the bus onto the steps of the capitol, we were still groggy from the bus ride. There were over 220 bulls ready to stampede through senate chambers, offices and halls.
We were divided into groups. Team leaders stood with lists — their voices barely audible over the sustaining drone of excited students. My group was never called.
That was because my group was to meet on the tenth floor of capitol 1001 for our first 10:30 a.m. meeting. I made it, though.
My team leader, Chase Connin, is a junior accounting major from the Sarasota-Manatee campus and a student senator.
Our first appointment is with Representative John Cortes’, a Democrat who represents Florida’s 43rd district. It contains northern Osceola county and includes areas of Kissimmee.
Connin started grilling the representative about the new USF Health Morisani College in downtown Tampa.
The facility is over 40 years old, and the College of Nursing pre-licensure program turned down 77 percent of its qualified applicants due to exceeding capacity. The new project could cost up to $33.3 million.
Cortes countered that it would be tough to get money for big projects this year.
They settled on a conversation about how the Falcons blew the Super Bowl and how unfortunate “Mr. Cheeto Man’s” presidency is.
Next up we spoke to Representative Jennifer Sullivan, a Republican residing in the 31st district, which consists of northern Orange County.
She’s late for our appointment and rushes into the room saying she only has a moment to spare. Connin barely gets a chance to pitch a new STEM facility for the Sarasota-Manatee campus before she has to leave.
He can’t get to any of the other talking points. He didn’t get to discuss the $9 million needed to finish a floor of a new research facility, the $7.2 million to house a center for cybersecurity or their push to expand medical care and mental health services for $3 million.
Finally, it was time for lunch. The university provided Jimmy Johns. I ate a turkey sandwich while President Judy Genshaft worked the room, meeting people and taking photos.
After lunch, we discussed expanding Bright Futures with the senate subcommittee on higher education appropriations. Students asked for the aid to cover 100 percent of tuitions, but at some point, I may have fallen asleep. I mean, I’ve been up since 2 in the morning on two hours of sleep. A post-lunch nap was inevitable.
Next up is the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. This time we are talking about Rick Scott’s $83.5 billion dollar budget proposal for the new fiscal year.
Several committee members think that there isn’t enough prioritization for mental health funding. A woman from the audience gets up and gives an emotional speech echoing these sentiments.
Interestingly, one of the talking points for the day is USFSP’s support for the Board of Governors Health Initiative. The request centers around increasing the staffing levels of State University System Counselling Centers.
Dinner is held at The Governors Club. USFSP students are quick to talk about their day.
Gabby Thornton, a senior environmental science and policy major, is thankful for the trip but sees some shortcomings.
“I don’t think it’s fair to us to push an agenda without any student input,” she says.
She is quick to note that “faculty really value students at our campus” but that it would have been nice to have more open talking points. While the representatives were respectful, they didn’t seem overly interested.
“They cared about us as kids and as students, but not the agenda or the ideas we were pushing. They kept asking questions about us,” she says.
The bus leaves at 8:00 p.m. I mistakenly get on a bus headed for Tampa before a nice lady steers me in the right direction,
Back in my seat, I’m joined by Juan Salazar, 21, who is a senior psychology student.
“I really love being able to lobby on behalf of our campus,” he says, setting his stuff down. “It was great being able to meet other people and being able to connect all of the campuses and unite them towards one common goal.”
“Don’t Stop Believing” plays over the speaker and everyone starts singing and dancing. No one gets much sleep on the way back, but everybody’s okay with that.
