The Student Government Association (SGA) has officially ended for the semester as the organization’s final meeting was held this Monday, inaugurating next semester’s president, vice-president and senators.

Former President Dennis McDermott swore in Vice-President Elect Tanya Batista after saying that there is “nothing written down formally” for the process of swearing in new members.

Batista then swore in Kendra Summers. Following this, Summers and Batista swore in the new senators all at the same time. Batista led the remainder of the meeting, as it is the vice-president’s job to run the legislative body meetings.

In the first open floor, returning Senator Trevor FitzSimmons reiterated concerns raised last week about attendance.

“Attendance has been an issue all academic year,” FitzSimmons said. “I sincerely hope that SGA will fix this ever-growing concern.”

Attendance has been one of several things that McDermott has been trying to address in his last few weeks as president but said this issue from now on will be “redirected to the new vice-president and president.”

In reports of the cabinet, Chief of Staff Sophie Burkholder celebrated her last meeting, as she is graduating, along with McDermott. 

“I am so glad to be done, but I do feel that this organization has potential,” Burkholder said. “If you want advice, you need to reach out to me first. Also, we can’t be good as a whole if we don’t desire to do good. It is hard to act on this potential if the same three people are getting all the stuff done. We’ve all dropped the ball at times, but you guys can change that in the future.”

Parliamentarian Kairi Stallsmith’s work is not yet over yet, as she “plans to clean the SGA office.”

“We’ll all clean the office,” Summers said. “There has been a lack of cleaning this year for sure.”

During closing announcements, McDermott gave a quick closing statement.

“Thank you all so much for the last two years,” McDermott said. “It has been an honor to be your president. I will always be a resource. There is no set date for when you cannot reach me. I want to see this organization continue to succeed and do greater things.”

Summers concluded by reiterating thanks to Burkholder and McDermott..

“One last special thank you to Sophie and Dennis,” Summers said. “I could not have done anything without either of you. That is the truth. You guys have served a long time, and we [SGA] are truly grateful.”