Student Government’s new bill aims to increase partnership between USF’s campuses and their surrounding cities through student volunteering opportunities.
Courtesy of USF
By Aubrey Carr
The University of South Florida’s Student Government (SG) took steps toward community engagement during a lunch meeting with St. Petersburg’s Deputy Mayor Stephanie Owens last week.
The luncheon was hosted to present Owens with “OneUSF Community Engagement” –– an SG bill developed to increase partnership between USF’s three campuses and the surrounding communities.
The creation of the USF Community Engagement Committee –– a collection of students and SG faculty tasked with planning volunteer events for the university –– was also included in the bill.
SG’s meeting with Owens acted as the commencement of the increased community collaboration detailed in the bill.
“This lunch is the first step in creating a partnership between Student Government and St. Pete that will benefit all students across [USF],” said Yamaris Rodriguez, USF St. Petersburg SG’s deputy chief of staff and senior political science major.
Rodriguez co-organized the event alongside Andres Montero, SG’s assistant director of external and government affairs.
“Our role as student leaders is to create a better community and opportunities for our peers, which is what the bill and the luncheon with the deputy mayor have kick started,” Rodriguez said.
“Having the deputy mayor listen to student leaders of the University of South Florida shows the city’s willingness to listen to our perspective and concerns about the future of the [university’s] St. Petersburg campus and the city of St. Pete.”
The lunch was comprised of SG leaders, students who helped write the bill and SG advisers from all three campuses.
According to Rodriguez, the meeting was “a successful event” and showed promise of further collaboration between the city and USF St. Petersburg.
“One achievement that I believe came out of the event was the mention of future conversations with the deputy and the city to further the talk of a partnership between USF and them with either mentorship or internship opportunities for students,” Rodriguez said.
Like Rodriguez, Kande DaCosta, a USF St. Petersburg SG senator and sophomore finance major, spoke positively of the event.
“I think this is a step in the right direction for both SG and the wider university in that it will show the student body that the people they have elected to serve them have their best interests at hand,” DaCosta said.
“[The lunch] will help [the university] reach its ‘OneUSF’ goal and improve community engagement,” DaCosta said.
SG’s meeting with Owens not only created conversations of future partnerships but was also a validating experience for the students in attendance.
“Being a student, sometimes you don’t feel like you have enough of an impact on your university or community, so organizing the lunch and actively participating on [an] event where we were able to start talks of a partnership with the city that will benefit future students was great,” Rodriguez said.
