The new Student Government Association president said on Aug. 1 he wants to increase student participation in SGA and campus clubs this semester by marketing them better. 

President Jacob Smith said he plans to hold more campus events and meet with groups of students to get advice. 

At some of the events, Smith said SGA will engage students by giving away food. 

“A lot of people come to AACC, go to class and go home, and they don’t even think about the student engagement side,” Smith said. “I want to do some more creative things.” 

Events and giveaways are “good idea[s] because a lot of people don’t want to get engaged with [student government] … so if you do something that brings people [in] … it helps,” Kirsten Adams, a first-year computer science student, said.  

Smith said every student should know about The Nest, AACC’s website for student clubs at nest.aacc.edu, and how to use it. 

Smith said he is drafting guidelines for focus groups—meetings with students to collect ideas about topics that affect them. 

“I feel like, in his leadership, he should be open to advisement from kids around the school,” Ellie Jefferies, a second-year transfer studies student, said. “That’s what a good leader does.”