Austin Cook
Equinox Staff
Many students do not know who the student body president is at Keene State College. Of the twelve people surveyed for this article, not one could name the student body president.
Sarah Dugas is the current student body president and an English literature major with a management minor at Keene State. Dugas said she wants to go into a Human Resources and management field and has an HR internship, which helped her realize that HR/Management should be her career choice for the future.
Dugas said that she never heard of Keene until she began discussing schools with her mom and learned that her mom was an alumni.
“My mom went to Keene State. I didn’t even know what Keene State was until my mom had me take a look. So I toured the campus and fell in love with it. I did apply to other schools, but this one really caught my eye,” Durgres said.
Being involved in student government was a new experience for Dugas.
“I wasn’t involved with any student government in high school. I did a lot of volunteer work. I was part of a program called Project Outreach, where we plan volunteer programs for other people at our school. So in some ways, I was involved with stuff like that in high school. I tried all types of things when I got to Keene, but student government was the right organization for me,” Dugas said.
Dugas added that she started as a representative and was encouraged by friends to assume more responsibility. She said she was honored to serve on the e-board her sophomore year, “I just worked my way from there. I ran for vice president last year and got it, the logical route from there was to run for student body president. Part of my role as acting president is to facilitate the e-board assembly meetings every Tuesday and oversee it with the vice president. ”
Dugas explained that the e-board sponsors various events throughout the school year and events for other organizations. The e-board also help other clubs raise, budget and allocate funds throughout the year. In the spring, they allocate budgets for all of the student-run organizations and clubs on campus. The e-board organizes a carnival every spring which involves many of the clubs. This is a tradition that Keene State has had for many years.
Brandon Mathieu, Coordinator of Fraternity, Sorority Life and Student Leadership, said he works with Dugas often.
“She knows the campus, our campus culture, and the student body. So she really is a crucial student leader for me to go to figure out what kind of initiatives and different activities the student government should focus on and be working with the administration on,” Mathieu said.
Dugas emphasized that she makes every effort to get input and feedback from the student body, “I hold office hours in case anyone needs any information from me. I oversee all of our committee chairs and facilitate our weekly student gov e-board meetings. I am co-chair of our events committee and I also sit on our senate executive committee as well as the student senate. I put in twenty-five to thirty hours a week of my time into this role. I have busy weeks, but twelve of those [hours] are office hours. I’m a very open person and [if] anyone has any questions about student government or the e-board, they are welcome to talk to me.”
Mathieu praised Dugas’ dedication to the student government and explained that she invests a large amount of time.
“Sarah has excellent time management skills. She’s a go-getter. She doesn’t let anything hold her back or weigh things down. She tends to look at the glass half full and is proactive instead of reactive. She likes to make sure that the entire student voice is heard before anything is enacted or voted on. I really do appreciate that about her. I think she’s genuine and leads by example,” Mathieu said.
Durgas said she cares very much about being the voice of the student body, “I love being the student government president. It’s a busy job but I like to stay busy, and I definitely feel rewarded by putting events on for students and helping clubs become clubs or help them put on their own events, and most of all, be a voice for students.”
Austin Cook can be contacted at
acook@kscequinox.com
