Firstly, I want to say good luck to all of our friends who finished the California Bar Exam today!
That is a huge milestone. I think we share the sentiment that we are all praying for your success and want you all to be successful in passing the exam. Also good luck to those of you taking a summer final on August 11th! Now for the latest on SBA activities this July.
SBA Committees
The SBA Vice Presidents Lexi Howard (l_howard1@u.pacific.edu) and Shoeb Mohammed (s_mohammed@u.pacific.edu) are accepting applications from students interested in either becoming an SBA Committee Chair or a member of an SBA Committee. Each SBA Committee is provided a budget, a set of objectives, and some flexibility for the committee team to come up with their own goals to carry out this year.
Speaking from my own experience, I highly recommend that you to join a SBA Committee if you want to help improve McGeorge campus. The SBA Committees provide a vehicle for you to positively affect student life and influence outcomes on behalf of your friends here on campus. I found my own experiences working with my fellow students in the SBA Career Development Committee to have been a fulfilling experience that culminated into a list of recommendations to the school (many of which are being incorporated this coming year).
American Bar Association (ABA) Conference
From August 7th till the 9th the ABA will be hosting the Law Student Division Conference in Boston. As SBA President, I am our school’s representative before the ABA along with the assistance of our ABA Rep. A challenge I encountered this summer though was the increased costs associated with this ABA conference as compared to previous years (the last two conferences were in San Francisco in 2013 and Chicago in 2012). Compounding this issue is the fact that the SBA currently does not have its full budget since we do not know the size of our student body until the Fall semester begins.
As a result, because I lacked the funds to pay my own travel to the conference (as you may recall I rescinded the $1,500 stipend as part of my campaign pledge), I submitted a funding request to the SBA Board outlining my goals and objectives as well a request to cover most of the travel costs associated with the trip for myself and our ABA Rep (we are also contributing personal funds given the importance of the trip).
A majority of the SBA Board voted to fund the trip on the condition that I secure additional funding from the McGeorge Administration. I was grateful that both the Career Development Office and Dean Mootz provided additional funds so that SBA only has to provide $700 for the two of us. So through a combination of my own out of pocket costs, SBA support, and school support, both myself and our ABA Rep will be able to represent our school in Boston this August. You can read the full record of these discussions here. When we return, our ABA Rep Mirwais Haider will provide a report to the student body on the conference and future plans on the SBA blog.
Orientation Week
First, thank you to the dozens of students who have reached out and volunteered to help during Orientation Week coming this August. I and our Second Year Evening Rep Megan Donaghey have been busy working with the Orientation Committee to help welcome our newest additions to the McGeorge community.
If you are free on the 13th, 14th, or 15th of August, please contact me if you are interested in participating in Orientation Week. I still have a small handful of spots left to be filled. I will be participating for the entire Orientation Week as well as many on the SBA Board.
Next SBA Meeting
Originally we planned to meet one more time this month but the combination of summer school finals, working out of town, and Salzburg made it impossible for virtually all of us to meet again. While it was possible for enough of us to meet to sustain a quorum under our rules, my preference is to try to have maximum participation by the SBA Board as we finalize our agenda for the new year. All of us are participating in various parts of Orientation Week as well. Therefore, we will be meeting on August 17th (Sunday) before school officially begins.
Lastly, I want to note that I am very proud of the work everyone on the SBA Board has contributed these last two months we’ve been in office. I am excited about this upcoming year.
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