I’ve always enjoyed being part of a team, and this past weekend was no exception.

As a member of the Student Government Association at the University of Maine at Augusta, I’m allowed to be a part of a group of people working to serve our fellow students. The SGA is an organization that works as the voice of students on campus, and this past weekend we learned how to more effectively serve our students as a team. Eight members of the student governments from both the Augusta campus and the Bangor campus, along with our adviser, traveled to Boston to volunteer and attend a conference about effective SGAs.

Our first outing of the weekend was a trip to the Boston Nature Center & Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a part of the Massachusetts Audubon. The nature center is a sanctuary located on the grounds of the old Boston State Hospital. They host educational programs year-round to educate people about wildlife and the environment. While there, the SGA helped with maintenance at the Center. As a team, we spent hours pruning, raking, weeding, and moving brush. There’s nothing quite like yard work to build a bond between people.

The next day we attended the student government conference at Wheelock College, hosted by the American Student Government Association. At the conference, the members of our SGA team had many choices for different sessions to attend. The topics of these sessions ranged from conflict resolution, goal-setting, and parliamentary procedure. Besides attending workshops to learn from the guest speakers, the members of the SGA team also networked with students from other institutions’ student governments.

Together, we swapped stories of successful programs and ideas about new projects. Interacting with people from around the country allowed us as an SGA to have a broader idea of the possibilities of student government and the ways we can best advocate for our classmates and friends.

Through this experience, we not only were able to work with students from other schools, but we were able to work together. Moving forward, we will have the knowledge and tools to be a more effective team. The information we gained from networking with other student governments will help our organization grow and thrive, and we are looking forward to what the future brings.

Comments are not available on this story.