Student body president Christina Saint-Pierre, along with Vice President of Student Development Jeff Kirksey, and Director of Community Life Keri Lewis attended the Nazarene Student Leadership Association meeting at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California, that started on Jan. 20.
The conference brought together student body presidents from eight of the nine Nazarene colleges and universities. Gathering over coffee, the group discussed the upcoming Nazarene Student Leadership Conference, which is held for all new SGA executive groups that will assume office for the 2016-2017 term. This year, NSLC will be held at Northwest Nazarene University.
At the meeting, Saint-Pierre raised her concern that it may not be the most efficient use of time to have the outgoing presidents at a conference for the newly-elected student governments.
“It’s not that I do not want to go. I feel bad. I am blessed to have this opportunity, but if I am going to go, then there needs to be a purpose,” Saint-Pierre explains.
Many of Saint-Pierre’s colleagues agreed and offered to host a question and answer segment at the conference. After the meeting, the group attended an evening worship night.
The next day, all of the student body presidents, with the addition of the universities’ student development vice presidents and community life directors, attended a business meeting that reviewed the progress of the colleges and the work each student body president is undertaking this semester.
Afterwards, the group had a video conference with Nazarene leaders. Saint-Pierre asked about whether tools were available on Nazarene college campuses to promote cultural competency, as well as whether associated curriculum changes that she believes are necessary were being implemented.
Before Saint-Pierre left for the conference in San Diego, she posted a video on her Facebook page in which she questioned whether the cost of the trip to the meetings outweighed the value of attending the conference, even as she expressed gratitude for the opportunity to attend. In spite of the varied responses to the video, Saint-Pierre believes that the feedback from the student body was mostly positive.