No Title Yet, But These Students Want To Be President!

By V.M Bruno and Brandon Fern

Live Wire Staff Writers

On Tuesday April 15, 2014 the Student Government Association held an Ice-Cream Social in the student lounge. The SGA elections are coming up, and the students had the opportunity to talk with the presidential candidates.

Mike LaPorte is currently an elective representative. He was previously the representative for his squadron to the Connecticut Wing Cadet Advisory Counsel in Civil Air Patrol. On November 9, 2011, He was invited to DC by FEMA for the national test of the emergency alert system.

He plans to treat bringing back the athletic program as an important issue. He would like to fund it privately through local businesses because he says, “We can’t rely on the state to fund us.”

Restarting of the athletics program is possible, but it must be within the budget. SGA presidents have very little control over the school budget. Laponte’s approach of private funding is impossible.

He’s also stated that he will go “all the way” to advocate for our student body. He also wants to free up the club system and limit the SGA interference on an individual club’s prosperity.

His other idea of limiting the SGA involvement with the clubs would be impossible because it is the SGA’s task to regulate each club.

Joseph Young has a different vision of his term as president. Where Laporte focuses on the logistics of repairing the student programs, Young focuses on the SGA’s communication with the public.

Young has been student since October 2011 as a political science major. He has experience in the Democratic town committee in Manchester. He is the vice chair of the Manchester voting district. At MCC he was an elected representative as well as secretary of the Habitat Club.

Young believes the SGA does not communication well with the college. Young would like to hold town hall style meetings open to the public.

The current SGA meetings are held as open meetings that any student can attend, changing the meetings how Young proposes would not change the current format.

He also wants to send a member of the SGA to every club meeting so they can collaborate on their budgets.

Another candidate with a similar perspective on communication with the student body, Bianca Harriett differs on her methods. Harriett is a first year student in the Culinary Arts program. She is currently attempting to begin a dance team in replacement for the athletic program.

She wants to run for president because she wants the SGA to have more involvement in the student body. She wishes to change the way the SGA communicates with the student body by speaking with them in person.

She plans to educate the student body on the rising tuition as well. Harriett wishes to hear feedback from students before making any major decisions. Harriett is very open to ideas.

Harriett also wants to restart the athletic program. She plans to do this by conducting a student survey on the three most popular athletic programs to keep costs down.

While Young prefers the student body to come to the SGA, Harriett appears to be more direct and wishes to meet the student body personally. Harriett currently does not have any documented experience as a member of a club, committee, or in the SGA.

Current head of the SGA elected representatives, Brittanymarie Barber, is a second year student as Liberal Arts and Science major. She would like to run for president because she would like to streamline the student government.

She wishes to have transparency between the SGA and the student body. She’s a student athlete, has good communication skills, and said that she is very good at mentoring others.

She wants to “clean up” the student government and focus on things that need to be improved on campus. She also wishes to keep the SGA committees, but modify the way they interact the clubs.

Our final candidate prides himself on his life experience. Gordon Plouffe is currently the treasurer for the SGA. He has been a student since Fall 2011 as a Business Office Technology major. He originally attended MCC back in the 1980’s. Plouffe is older than the average student, but he said that his life experience offers valuable insight for the SGA. He has experience as a young student who dropped out college, as well as a student who came back fully committed, he said.

Gordon wishes to change the image of the SGA. His primary focus is reaching out to the clubs and communicating with them in a more efficient manner. He also supports student advocacy.

His method would be to recruit students to write letters to the board of higher education and going to the state capitol to meet with state representatives. Two other important topics in his campaign are the rise of college tuition and the rebirth of the athletic program.

Each candidate appears to have a very deep concern for the current state of student affairs.