During the annual SEC Exchange on July 18 and 19, student governments from universities in the Southeastern Conference shared ideas and objectives.
For the first time since joining the SEC last year, UT SG hosted the event. The event’s goal, according to student government president Hudson Thomas, was to gather input from other student governments on how to enhance programs and their individual effects on the community. According to him, the main topics of discussion at the event were mental health, food insecurity, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, and teamwork.
According to Plan II senior Thomas, “almost all of us felt that we could significantly make progress on an SEC-wide front on food insecurity and mental health.” I also discussed business and artificial intelligence with a number of student body presidents. How can we actually collaborate to make sure that our student governments are optimizing students’ post-graduation employment prospects?
Coming to Austin was a blast, according to Avery Dunlap, president of Oklahoma University’s Student Government Association. She claimed that despite UT and OU’s century-old rivalry, there is a bond between the two universities.
According to Dunlap, the president of the student body at each university partnered up with their adversary to talk about their common experiences and potential areas of cooperation. OU and UT worked together in the Red River Food Fight prior to last year’s Red River Rivalry, when the two schools’ food pantries fought for the most donations. Dunlap claimed that during her conversation with Thomas, the two of them came up with ideas for promoting and working together on food drives that benefit their individual food banks.
Dunlap stated, “We all ran for these positions because we genuinely cherish our student experiences and strive to improve those experiences for others.” We all secretly share the same enthusiasm for our work.
The conference sessions were split between the Texas Union Building and the William C. Powers Student Activity Center, according to assistant dean of students Susan Buckenmeyer. The Frank Denius Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame and Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium were visited by visiting students. After the conference, they went to Barton Springs, she said.
According to Thomas, the executive alliance wants to see more cooperation between SEC student governments once the academic year gets underway.
Since we only have a year, we want to make the most of it and ensure that everyone feels like they’ve accomplished something at the end, Thomas stated. We are incredibly motivated and prepared to go.
