New SGA Incumbents Promote Student Voice

During the spring break of 2017, Lauren Novsak and Noah Connor joined their peers on a trip with Mission: I’m Home, and it was there that these rising community leaders clicked—while drywalling a bathroom.

“You’ll learn a lot about a person once you’ve spent a week with them in a space that small,” said Novsak, with a laugh. The incumbent president of Stevenson’s Student Government Association, along with the vice president, Connor, aim to bring student-led initiatives to the foreground of campus life, while overall enhancing the community’s experience—students, faculty, staff, and alumni alike.

Novsak and Connor initially met in the fall of 2016, but truly got close after the mission trip to Baton Rouge.

“Every night we had great conversations about student leadership, student government, and our goals for the future. As we came back to Stevenson, our paths started crossing more with the work we were doing, so it was the obvious match,” Novsak said. “We were so in tune with each other’s leadership styles…I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would’ve wanted to have as a running mate.”

Connor, who is currently a senior residential assistant, has actively spent the past few years trying to offer more outlets for first-year students to have their voices heard. As the current chair of the Senate’s student services committee, he has led initiatives to bring the concerns of students to the forefront. His future appointment as vice president of the SGA, combined with his positions as the president of M.I.L.E and as a senior residential assistant, will put him in a unique position to address student concerns.

Novsak, on the other hand, currently serves as the Director of Public Relations and Alumni Outreach for the SGA. She is also the current president of Mission: I’m Home. Novsak’s roles this year have exposed her to internal and external communities, giving her the ability to see multiple facets of the Stevenson experience. Every aspect of the community has different opinions to share, and Novsak has made it a goal to navigate through that to provide the best experience possible to everyone involved.

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