We’d like to thank all of the students who we’ve spoken with, heard from and made connections with thus far. An understanding of the students we serve year-round was crucial in the creation of our platform and when choosing which goals we’d set for our Student Body this past year.
This past year students asked for increased study space, a reliable, safe means of nighttime transportation and more fitness classes. We are excited to have addressed those important student needs by securing $10 million in funding from the state legislature to create more than three floors of new, state-of-the-art study space in Newell Hall, recruiting Uber to the City of Gainesville, renovating the Florida Gym to re-open the basketball courts and adding 15 additional group fitness classes at Southwest Recreation Center. These and all of our accomplishments are a direct result of our interactions with you.
We are excited for our plans to enhance this line of communication with you. Swamp Party representatives are currently in the process of developing a new Student Government website that will provide all students and student organizations with a central location to connect with their Student Government. The website will house the now segmented means of communication that SG uses and provide for increased interaction with the student body.
Not only do we want to host a central location for online interaction; but we also plan to bring SG to you! We plan for each of the 19 cabinets serving with the vice president to host flagship events throughout our campus to reach students in every corner. We hope to continue partnering with student organizations and hosting unique events to ensure we are engaged with students throughout the year.
In order to keep all students updated on our service and to enhance accountability, we plan to create a Platform Tracker, which will detail progress on our commitments to you. In real time, students will be kept up to date on the progress of each of our platform points. Our goal is to promote accountability at every level and ensure students are always aware of our progress.
Thank you for the engaging conversations not just this past week, but throughout the entire year. We look forward to continuing these conversations and our commitment to all Gators!
Ricky Salabarria
Swamp Party President
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/19/2015]
