With a brand-new Student Government elected at the end of the spring semester, On Century Avenue caught up with what the new leaders have been up to over the summer, including projects they have been working on and goals and agendas they have for the upcoming year. Here’s what is currently in progress:President and Vice-President:Jiayun (Lyndsy) Qu & Ho Bin KimLyndsy and Hobin have already elected a part of the Student Organizations committee in collaboration with the Director of Student Organizations, Reida Akam. In addition, the school website is undergoing major renovation, which Lyndsy and Hobin are involved in. Additional projects include fostering better communication with other Chinese universities, like Xi’an Jiaotong University. The two are also in communication with Student Life about future budget plans for different Student Government departments. Long term projects the two have in mind include the student leader retreat (in conjunction with Student Life) and continuing development of the communications forum Voice of Students. Voice of Students is still in action, and Lyndsy and Hobin are seeking ways to better use it to reach out to the school community. Director of External Affairs:Zeyao LiZeyao began his year as Director of External Affairs by taking members of Tongji University on a tour of NYU Shanghai and attending their commencement. He also formed a collaboration between NYU Shanghai’s External Affairs committee and the Presidents of various Sino-Western universities. In the future, Zeyao plans to use his new connections to increase NYU Shanghai’s reputation among Chinese universities and reach out to new contacts in other cities, like Beijing. A trip to Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University in Suzhou has already been planned for September, with more trips to be planned throughout the year. Director of Global Affairs:Joanne ChunJoanne will also be serving as the Chair of the Global Students Council at NYU. Work with the Global Vice Chairs from New York and Abu Dhabi has begun to write the first NYU Global Students Council Constitution, with the aim of completing it by the end of the summer. Discussions are in place for an NYU Global Summit in New York during the first weekend of October, along with another Summit in either Abu Dhabi or Shanghai in the Spring semester. Applications for two Assistant Directors for the Global Affairs Committee will be released in September. Director of Student Events:Yuqing (Sam) LiThe dates for some of the major events that have become tradition for NYUSH have been decided, including Dumpling Festival, Carnival of the Dead, Fusion Music Festival, and Spring Formal. Dumpling Festival will be held in September instead of November so it can serve as a school-wide cultural celebration of wellness, community and dumplings at the beginning of the school year. The budget for the Events Committee has also been confirmed and approved by Student Life, and will remain generally the same as the previous academic year. Discussions are on-going regarding a co-sponsorship system that will provide the Events Committee to work with other clubs or students with event ideas towards the common goal of creating greater, bigger events. Talks are also in place about collaborations between the Events Committee and Student Life and Athletics to host new events related to athletics and art. The application for Assistant Director of Student Events will be available in late August. Director of Student Life & Residence: Millicent (Millie) WongOver the summer, Millie has been working closely with Nine Masters, the organization that runs the NYU Shanghai cafeteria, to continue to address student concerns about food quality and safety. In an email sent to the student body Jul. 5, she released and confirmed changes Nine Masters will be making in response to student demands heard in the cafeteria boycott at the end of the last year. In the upcoming year, Nine Masters has promised to increase food variety and hire a nutritionist to help decrease the amount of oil and salt in the food to healthy portions, among other actions. The Food Reform/Cafeteria Committee, instrumental in working with last year’s Director of Student Life & Residence Dylan Crow, will still continue into the upcoming year. Director of Student Organizations:Reida AkamThe constitutions for the committees and the interclub councils are currently being restructured, and the first official project to be worked on will be the Involvement Fest held during Orientation. From the applications received over the summer, candidates for the Assistant Director of Finance and Assistant Director of Club Affairs have been appointed. Future agenda includes communicating more with student organizations to build a sustainable system that can potentially be used for purposes such as budget allocation, event planning, spending accountability. Senior Class Representative (Current):Tyler RhorickTyler, who was the Junior Class Representative last year, will be serving as the Senior Class Representative until new elections in the Fall when majority of the Class of 2017 will be back on campus. This summer has been dedicated mostly to commencement, by being in touch with the administration and David Pe regarding what NYU Shanghai’s first Commencement Ceremony should look like. A structure and proposal for the Commencement Committee will be developed over the summer which will be voted on by the student body to ratify in Fall 2016, and then elections for the Commencement Committee will begin. Once a new class representative is elected, Tyler hopes to pass on the agenda of commencement and making sure all graduation requirements are clear and fair to students, along with using the Class’ study abroad experience to address problems such as isolation from the campus when away. Student Government is also working towards having sessions to prepare the sophomores better for study abroad by addressing all the issues the Class of 2017 faced. Junior Class Representative:Richard Awuku-Aboagye JnrProjects with the Sophomore Class Rep. to create a peer-buddy system for the juniors and freshmen are under development to ensure juniors can interact with them during study abroad. This article was written by Editorial Staff. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: NYU Shanghai Student Government