Student Government Association’s Executive President and junior Anya Bratic said during her campaign that she wanted to be a connector for students on campus. After being elected, Bratic still believes her role as executive president is to be a liaison between students and the resources Elon University offers.
“For me personally, and how I will feel really successful by the end of my term, is if I genuinely feel like I've made an impact in connecting students to resources that we have on campus,” Bratic said.
To do this, Bratic plans to capitalize on the close relationships she will have with Elon President Connie Book and Vice President of Student Life Jon Dooley.
“Because I've been able to form these relationships, I get to take what students are telling me, and any concerns that they have is something that I can bring up directly to Dr. Book, to Dr. Dooley,” Bratic said.
Together with the senate, Bratic said she wants to better communicate with the student body on information they may not be aware of. After the election, some of the senate seats were left vacant, but Bratic has appointed 10 senators who have all been unanimously voted on by the senate in the past two SGA business meetings.
“It’s actually a giant jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out where to place people,” Bratic said. “Then I have a meeting with them, and I try to place them based on where I think that they would thrive the most.”
Bratic expressed her excitement about this senate because of its many veteran senators who she has worked with in the past and the new underclassman senators that she feels will have a positive impact on SGA. Bratic said this particular senate is filled with a diverse group of people who can be found representing many different communities across campus.
“There's a lot of people who represent various areas on campus, and I'm excited to see how they're going to bring their experiences and be advocates for their individual areas that they represent on campus,” Bratic said.
Part of Bratic’s job will be preparing this new senate to effectively work together and produce impactful legislation. Bratic said her end of year report can be used as a guide for new senators to recognize what SGA’s past priorities have been.
For Bratic, her term as executive president is a culmination of years of work in various student government associations since she was 13. Her past experiences have shown Bratic how best to be an advocate for the student body she represents. Bratic also said her time working at the Center for Design Thinking has allowed her to find solutions for problems in a unique way.
“I've really been able to develop a better problem solving process and problem solving methods that have allowed me and equipped me to start thinking about how to handle any issue,” Bratic said. “With SGA, we handle a lot of issues all the time.”
While the end of the school year is approaching, Bratic said she and the executive council will continue planning out their goals and priorities throughout the summer in order to be prepared for the start of the new school year.