By Jordan Unger
At the Youngstown State University Student Government Association meeting on Sept. 26, several student organizations requested funds to attend out-of-state conferences.
YSU Honors Trustees, Student Organization for Respiratory Care, Society for Women Engineers, YSU Student Nurse Association, Actuarial Science Club and Tau Beta Pi are among the organizations that received funding to attend conferences.
Various student organizations attend conferences in their fields of study each year. Kendel Christoff, president of Youngstown Students of Dietetics, said this will be the group’s first time attending the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo.
“This is all of the newest and latest research, which is pretty important,” Christoff said.
The Youngstown Students of Dietetics will be attending FNCE 2016 in Boston on Friday. Christoff said the conference will have seminars throughout the day, where experts in the field will discuss breakthroughs in medicine.
“This is where it’s presented, and it’s brought into light,” Christoff said. “Instead of doing research and digging for it, it’s here at your disposal, and you can talk to these people who have researched it for years. It’s really incredible.”
All of the student organizations that attended the SGA meeting received funding for their conferences. Tyler Miller-Gordon, president of SGA, said the conferences are necessary for YSU students.
“I think [the conferences] are extremely important to develop the students professionally in the field of their study, as well as represent YSU across the nation,” Miller-Gordon said.
There is a financial path that governs how much SGA is able to appropriate to different organizations, according to Gordon. The representatives spoke to the Financial Affairs committee on the conferences and how they will benefit the university when the students return.
“It’s on those factors that the committee will make a decision on how much they’ll get,” Miller-Gordon said.
YSUscape, funded by SGA, sent two students to Baltimore for the seventh Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference on Sept. 28. Nicholas Chretien, YSUScape President, said the conference explored ways to strengthen neighborhoods affected by vacancies.
Chretien hosted an invite-only session called “Engaging College Students” at the conference.
“At this session, we discussed how our students have become involved in the community,” Chretien said. “[We] shared thoughts with other professionals who are looking to organize students to become involved to promote community development efforts near their campuses.”
The organization as a whole will benefit from the experience, Chretien said.
Drew Snyder, a YSU student from the American Physical Therapy Association, said students from the organization will be attending the National Student Conclave in Miami on Friday.
The conference will help students learn how the American Physical Therapy Association can help shape their careers, Snyder said.
“It is an opportunity for us to network with peers and potential mentors within the specific therapy domain in which we intend to practice,” Snyder said.
Miller-Gordon said all of the organization representatives did a great job presenting to SGA.
“I love that we continue to do that through the years,” Miller-Gordon said. “We’re a growing institution with growing students in it, so it’s extremely important for us to continue that growth process and pattern.”
