By necessity, a functional student government has positions that are filled by passionate students willing to take leadership positions alongside their academic pursuits in order to make changes and work towards a more fulfilling university experience. Becky Etten, who came to Michigan Tech from a town outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, is a student with an eagerness to be informed and involved in as much as she can. Etten is a second-year student majoring in Engineering Management and has been a member of USG since her first year on campus.
Last spring, when executive board elections took place, a fellow student convinced her to run for the position of Secretary, and she has been a participating member of the E-board since. In accordance with the old constitution that has been in the process of being reworked in the past year, all of the E-board members must be a part of the Ways and Means Committee (WAM), which is responsible for distributing funds from the Student Activity Fee to all the registered student organizations (RSOs) for budgeting and special purchases throughout the year.
As far as her role as Secretary, Etten is responsible for keeping minutes for WAM meetings, USG body meetings, and E-board meetings. “To be honest, when I’m in those meetings a lot of my stuff is pretty similar. I am typing away,” said Etten. “If I have the time I will eject my own thoughts into what’s going on, or if I have a strong opinion on something. In which case, someone would probably take minutes over for me because it’s hard to type and speak. Apart from that, I create agendas, take attendance, and send a weekly email so everyone knows what’s going on with USG.”
Etten has an extensive history with student government throughout her life, serving as student body president by her senior year of high school, but originally was looking to take a break from such involvement when she first showed up for orientation at Tech. However, when her orientation team leader, who was a part of USG, mentioned the words “student government”, she was hooked again. “I got roped in but I really do love this,” says Etten. “I love being involved on campus. Anything and everything I can be involved in, I’m interested in being in the know and getting connections with people.”
In addition to her USG responsibilities, Etten is also the director of fundraising for her sorority Alpha Sigma Tau (AST), as well as an E-board member for the Panhellenic Council, which is the committee that oversees sorority life at Tech, being specifically in charge of fundraising and volunteering for all sorority life instead of just AST.
For any undergraduate students who are similarly interested in getting involved in USG, Etten went on to say, “For the first time in a long time we do have a full body right now, so no positions are technically open, but we do have associate members. I always tell people, if you’re interested in student government just come to a USG meeting. I think they’re so interesting, you get to learn so much, and reach out to anyone. We love expanding.”
