Managing Editor Alex Ortuno
As time presses on, so do people when they move on. Former president of Student Government Association and current parliamentarian Edward Sesay moves further into his education as he graduates this semester.
Sesay served his first presidential term in 2019 through 2020 and his second term from 2020 through 2021. While Sesay looks forward as he graduates, he looks back at his time in SGA as president with honor.
“It’s been a blast as president of SGA during my time. It’s an honor for me to be president. I never felt that one day I would become president,” Sesay said.
While Sesay said he had fun being involved in SGA, he will miss being a part of the organization.
“I’m really going to miss student government at Richland. Even as a host [for] Texas Junior College Student Government Association as a whole, I’m going to miss it because it’s been my life embodiment. I’ve been to every conference, every state conference.”
While it was a game changer for him to become SGA president for Richland Campus, he has had a rough journey in his time of governance dating all the way back to his high school years.
“Looking at my history of [being] president because I was in high school. I just came back fresh from high school into college so that was a different state and different type of mentality. I was class president and student council president as well. It didn’t go too well for me. So when I stepped in Richland College then, I was looking for a organization or club to join
in and Carter, who’s our [previous] adviser, welcomed me to SGA and I loved it,” Sesay said.
While being president of SGA, Sesay has been approached with challenges. One of the biggest challenges he faced was to transition from in-person to remote operations during the lockdowns from 2020 amid the COVID- 19 pandemic.
“We had to move the election into virtual mode and that was another challenging moment as well to move from in-person to virtually and thank God I got elected. We had to find [new ways of communication] like Microsoft Teams or Zoom and it was hard for me to communicate with my cabinet.”
“Every event we had, every policy we had, I tried to put in, it was hard for me to implement it because I feel like the student body was not receiving the message, receiving the ideas of what student government is. It was hard because a lot of people travel, a lot of people graduated so it was a challenge to move from in-person to virtual because in-person, it’s easier,” Sesay said.
One of the biggest challenges Sesay faced was not related to COVID but something that changed the history of Richland – the Dallas College transition. Sesay said concerns were raised with the issue that SGA’s across campuses may be merged but said in a town hall meeting with former Chancellor Joe May, none of that would occur and they would remain independent.
As the Dallas College transition made SGA adapt to a new college, Sesay said it was beneficial for them as well. The transition to Dallas College helped him and the student government implement new and previously planned policies.
While Sesay moves on from Dallas College, he emphasizes the legacy that SGA should be about to further bridge the student body and the faculty and administration.
Sesay said he was honored to meet Richland Campus President Dr. Kathryn Eggleston and be able to work with her.
Sesay said he was able to meet with Eggleston to discuss the needs that students addressed from needing refurbishment and more charging stations.
As Sesay moves further into his goals in higher education, he asks for anyone interested in joining student government to do so.
While it may be fun, Sesay said it is an important learning experience as skills can be developed and learned over time from the experience and involvement in SGA.
“We have fun but the only thing you have to remember is the learning experience, the leadership skills because it prepares you for the future here, it prepares your soul, it prepares your mind, prepares your body for the outside world.”
“Think about student government as like a class to be prepared for you to be a leader in the future. Whatever major you’re going for, business, political science, nursing, student government can really prepare you for that into the future,” Sesay said.
Sesay added that the leadership skills learned from being involved in SGA can also help if anyone is planning to become involved in running for office in the future.
