As the school year begins, the Student Government Association (SGA) has already begun working on the initiatives and goals they advocated for during their campaign. For those who are unaware, the Impact party won the 2025 SGA elections, with all of their executive board candidates carrying the votes for their seats.
While students may have only recently learned of their plans, the executive board and other members of SGA actually began their work this past summer. Vice president Brendan Daigle, a junior majoring in computer science, expressed a level of excitement when asked how the executive board is feeling about the school year, which is in part due to president Onyeka Nwaezeapu’s efforts. “I’m really hopeful for the year moving forward. Just over the summer, I can attest how much Onyeka has been working on getting our initiatives moving forward.”
When it comes to Daigle’s work, he has a similar energy. “I’m really looking forward to kicking things off with an amazing group of people. We just completed our Senate retreat, and we had a really dedicated group of people come out to help us.”
Nwaezeapu, a senior majoring in biology, echoed Daigle’s sentiments regarding this year’s team. Nwaezeapu also elaborated further on the progress that SGA has made thus far. “We were able to email people, get introduced to people, sit down, have team meetings and really get acclimated with our position. We’ve already put out a lot of the things that we’ve been working on on our social media, which people should follow.”
Subsequently, Nwaezeapu also elaborated on newer projects that will be broadcast soon, such as a collaborative initiative with Saucier Wellness Center. This initiative involves SGA contributing funding to cover the remainder of students’ medical bills at the clinic, should the bill exceed $20 and they are unable to cover it.
During the first week of school, SGA also hosted two events to help welcome students back to campus and get students acquainted with the new leadership. The first event was on the first day of classes, Monday, Aug. 25, titled “Donut Drop-Off.” Members of SGA drove around campus and held stations where they passed out Meche’s donuts to students as they headed to their class. The second event was held on Thursday, Aug. 28, which was “Kooldown Kickback.” Stationed at the Student Union Plaza, SGA leadership handed out free snowballs and socialized with students.
As mentioned earlier, Daigle is more focused on the internal workings of SGA and how the team will come together to push changes forward for students across campus. “I’ve been focusing more on the internal side of things, getting our Senate ready to move forward and pass legislation for the year.” As far as his involvement in external affairs, Daigle said that he has been reaching out to deans to make sure that they are ready to assist the college representation in beginning college projects this upcoming year. Another thing Daigle has gotten a jump start on is the annual Sneaux Day.
Daigle has also been working on the SGA alumni mixer that happens every fall, which is an opportunity for past and present SGA administrators to network with one another and exchange fellowship and advice. With so much planned for the upcoming school year, both Daigle and Nwaezeapu expressed feeling the pressure to live up to the work that their predecessors left behind.
Nwaezeapu commented that the previous administration did things that have had a lasting impact on campus. “For example, Cade got the drop date moved back. Granted, it’s maybe just a few more days, but that means a lot for students who didn’t have the opportunity the year before, and that’s going to mean a lot for the students to come.”
Chief of Staff Gabrielle St. Pierre, a junior majoring in civil engineering, also expressed a desire to continue the menstrual hygiene product distribution across campus that her predecessor, Brooke Davenport, started during her term last year. It was a general consensus that this year’s leadership has some big shoes to fill. With that in mind, leadership has already begun to set ambitious goals for this semester alone. Some of those goals include potentially getting a mental health day excuse for students from classes and launching a campus meal swipe bank to support food insecure students. A pressing goal, in light of the new adjustment to the library’s new operating hours, is to extend those hours, perhaps to their original times.
Daigle said, “SGA is working tirelessly to make sure that we’re talking to the right people and getting that push back.” SGA is also taking student complaints about the hours, urging them to use their voice by filling out the complaint form in SGA’s Instagram biography and/ or emailing either of the executive board representatives. They plan to take these concerns directly to the administration.
Another goal to highlight is a student service program in tandem with Transportation Services and the Housing department. SGA is developing a proposal for a program that will allow eligible students to work off a housing fine or an unpaid parking ticket by completing an equivalent level of campus service hours. The administration also stresses that, along with all of these goals, any student concern is a goal of theirs to accomplish during their term.
While they will continue to be ambitious and persistent in their pursuit of their vision, SGA is also aware there may be many challenges they will face. Daigle noted that the magnitude of events is one of the biggest challenges he will face this year.
Nwaezeapu, on the other hand, feels that her challenge is more communication based. “I would say making sure that I am communicating effectively to faculty and department heads or just anyone that isn’t a student, on behalf of the students and making sure that I’m saying things in their language that they can understand without misrepresenting our student body too.”
Transparent communication is very high on the priority list of this year’s SGA administration and one way they are ensuring that happens is through the UL SGA Instagram page. Daigle noted “Instagram is our primary resource. That’s the main outlet. We have to get our word out. After every Monday meeting, we post the minutes and different legislation that we pass in that meeting. So really, students checking out is probably our most front-facing level of transparency we can provide.”
St. Pierre also added, “I also think we’ve done a great job at communicating with all of the SGA members how to utilize these resources that SGA already provides, so that students, when they have questions, their SGA members that they may know will be more informed.”
Another form of transparency being implemented, as well as a form of direct student body involvement, is the start of the Town Hall forum. “We’re going to bring departments that have been in high question with students around us to come and speak about their plans that they’re doing, or just here to answer any questions face to face with students,” Nwaezeapu stated.
As far as what events students should look forward to from SGA this school year, events like Sneaux Day, Constitution Day and the Scholarship Expo are on the horizon. Also, freshman elections are coming up soon, so the administration encourages all freshmen to vote for their future representation.
Amongst many others, there are three things that this administration would like students to know they can expect from them: a tireless effort, transparency and representation.
The 2025-26 SGA administration is passionate about the work they will complete this year, their relentless pursuit for advocacy and the overall improvement of student life.