On Wednesday, March 30, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences hosted a Shark Tank & Social event to present ideas for events to the Southern Utah University Student Association.
Students presented their ideas amongst other HSS members to later be presented to the SUUSA council. The winning ideas would receive $5,000 in funding to be carried out by the student council.
The two main ideas that will be moving to the council are setting aside funds to send students to educational conferences and a memorial for the Paiute Tribes.
The first idea had multiple steps, with the simplest being setting aside the funds. Another vital part is to advertise the funds across campus. The presenting group advocated for advertising via flyers, TVs and on the SUU Portal.
The primary focus behind the idea is the fact that many students are unaware of upcoming conferences, many of which can help students create a network towards their future career, as well as help create an image for SUU outside of the region of southern Utah.
Those on the council expect that this project will receive funding soon. Humanities and Social Sciences Senator Kyler Harrison said that they expect the project to receive funding and begin its initial phases at the start of the next academic school year.
“We were leaning more towards conferences so the money that’s going towards the conferences will be made available next school year,” Harrison said. “And that hat will just be made aware probably into next school year as that’s advertised more and put into a specific fund.”
The other idea was to build a statue or memorial for the Paiute Tribes, as the founders of SUU built the university on Paiute lands. According to Harrison, a similar idea has already been approved to move forward and that further action is expected to be taken in the following months.
“Dean [Jean Boreen] notified us that there is a project that will be in the works in the upcoming months,” Harrison said.
Harrison said that the main purpose for the event was to have students give their inputs on what their fees are being spent towards.
“With this event, the goal is just to have students know that there is an opportunity where we’re wanting to represent them and their ideas,” Harrison said. “So, for example, we were really focusing on conferences and so we’re taking student fees and putting it somewhere useful like conferences that students can attend and also helping build the legacy of SUU.”
The ideas chosen to receive the funding have yet to be formally announced but are expected to be publicly announced in the coming weeks.
Article and Photos by: Luke McKenzie
news@suunews.net
