On Feb. 3, Student Government had its first online meeting of the Spring 2021 semester, in which the group covered a budget request for Casino Night, an overview of Random Acts of Kindness Week, an SG town hall and other upcoming events.

To start the meeting, Student Government Executive Treasurer Ben Wojciechowski gave a presentation on Casino Night, which they are looking to hold as a week-long event. Running from Feb. 15 to 19, Monday will be left open to limit person-to-person contact; Tuesday will be a poker night with prizes ranging from $15 to $150 gift cards; Wednesday will be a bingo night with 12 $25 gift cards; Thursday will be left open; and finally, Casino Night will be held on Friday night through a virtual program that offers blackjack, roulette, craps and a money wheel. Chips will be given out to winners, which will then be converted into raffle tickets to use toward prizes. 

Classes broke out into five-minute discussions and came back agreeing that it might be a good idea to throw in a couple more events, such as a trivia night, an Instagram contest and bingo hosted by Student Government rather than paying to host it through another program. 

Next, Student Government President Kevin Long opened the floor to discuss ideas for Random Acts of Kindness Week, which will occur the same week as Casino Night. The event started last year when different clubs and programs gave away small gifts, wrote uplifting messages on sidewalks and held giveaways. Student Government allocated $500 toward business cards last year and randomly gave them to students to get a tall drink at Starbucks. 

The council offered multiple ideas that Student Government could partake in this semester, ranging from putting sticky notes with positive messages around campus, handing out goodie bags, dipping a bit more into the fund and sending a QR code for a gift card through email to everyone on campus, and much more. 

Student Government will hold a virtual town hall on Wednesday at 7 p.m., in which students can come and pledge concerns. That way, the council can see what is on the student body’s mind, find out what they want to see on campus and compile feedback to communicate with administration about what the student body is feeling at the moment. 

In the coming weeks, Student Development will host the virtual leadership conference on Feb. 13. A link was sent out via the Wilkes Today email announcements, where students are able to find out more about the event and register online. 

COVID-19 assurance testing will also be starting soon. Students will receive an email when it is their time to test, and no one will be tested twice within the semester.