Treasure Chest
I am happy to announce that I am now the first SGA Historian at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine.
Originally last week, there was going to be an election as there was one other person interested in the position, but as the other candidate backed out last minute, I remained uncontested, and therefore all I needed to do was get the required paperwork done, and announce to all the classes the news and what my responsibilites are in serving the AUC community.
This past Wednesday, I went to my first Student Government meeting as the new SGA Historian. It had been nearly half a semester since my last meeting, when I was class representative, and it was good being back. Back then as a class rep, I had always sat at the sides or back of the room, facing the executive board. Now as part of the executive board, I sit in the front of the meeting room along with the president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, facing everyone else. Looking back to my past, this has been quite a transformation for me. Back in college, I had always been very passive, shy, and would never have had the guts to initiate actions or lead. Even as a first semester at AUC, I never imagined that I would be sitting up here today, but my experience here in med school has changed me for the better, and while it may not be for others, being here today is quite a personal achievement for me.
I also feel honored that The Scope, a website I created and built last semester, is now officially a part of SGA, written in the newly-updated By-Laws of SGA. I feel that being written in the bylaws is not enough to keep The Scope going. It is crucial that SGA uses it and sees it as its own. I hope people will stop referring to The Scope as “Benji’s website” and start seeing it as “SGA’s website” as I made it as a member of SGA for the purpose of fulfilling the needs of SGA and the student body. Today, I don’t even refer to it as “my website” because it is not… there are now several registered users on the site, and multiple people who have written articles and added events on it. Once I fulfill my two terms, and another student takes over as Historian, the management of The Scope will be handed over to them.
After my first SGA meeting on Wednesday, I was given a key to the SGA office… I think I just found my new favorite place on campus. If it’s not clear from the rest of my blog already, I obviously really enjoy being here at this school and am interested in learning more about the school’s past. Being handed that key was like being handed the key to the school’s past. The SGA Office is like a Historian’s treasure chest, with all the documents and details from past student government meetings, purchases, issues, and events archived from years back. Browsing through these documents just within these past few days as Historian, I learned so much about how the school and student body was like in the past and how we changed. Things were run quite differently back then… some things were quite amusing, while others quite unexpected or even surprising. Whatever the history of the school and SGA was, it is all quite fascinating for me, and I feel honored to be given the opportunity to explore it.
I really look forward to being an SGA Historian and working with the new student government executive board, student leaders, advisors, and the student body as a whole.
