New president has 'big vision' for SGA

Sewing enthusiast, puzzle-solver, “Doctor Who” fan and now, Edinboro Student Government Association President.

Antoinette Jackson, a year-long member of EUSGA, saw a “need for a strong leader” and ran for it. She ran straight to the SGA presidential election victory.

Jackson isn’t a stranger to leadership roles, as she maintained many positions over the years in high school and college. She has attended many leadership training events and conferences, specifically in high school.

With these experiences, Jackson was able to meet with local leaders in the county, learn how leadership is done on a professional level, and explore the opportunities in her own community Jackson even had the chance to attend the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Conference as a representative from her high school.

While at Edinboro University, Jackson has served as a charter member and university president for her sorority, along with charter member for her fraternity and chair for their judicial review board.

“I have a big vision for SGA and what SGA can be,” said Jackson.

Even though she will not be sworn in until April 25, Jackson has already started to reach out to some of the administration about collaboration on future projects.

Jackson expressed her desire to grow SGA’s collaboration with different organizations. She pointed out that most organizations do not know how SGA operates, and because of this may begin to misunderstand SGA’s reasoning behind denying funds. With this, Jackson would like to see a new ara of transparency and openness so students can use SGA as the resource they strive to be.

“I would like to see SGA grow on campus as opposed to ‘I don’t know who SGA is but they’re there,’” said Jackson. “I want SGA to feel more relevant to people.”

Right now, SGA is going through structural changes, so Jackson hopes to push the association to be at a better spot in the future.

“I am very hopeful. I want to see a more relevant SGA, I want to see an SGA that is bigger so that we can represent students more accurately with a larger membership,” she said.

Jackson is a personal financial planning major with a minor in Spanish. Jackson wants to be marketable and has already taken four years of French in high school, expanding her language diversity by minoring in Spanish.

After completing her education, Jackson aspires to work at a firm to gain experience before eventually opening her own financial firm, which has always been a career goal. Jackson also expressed interest in one day working for the FBI.

“Financial accountants are really cool, we’re like the white collar crime fighters.”

In her free time, Jackson enjoys relaxing and evaluating what’s going on in her life. She also enjoys the swing dancing club she attends. Jackson’s entire family plays the saxophone, so jazz is in her blood and she finds Boro Swing to be a fun extracurricular.

During the fall semester of her senior year, Jackson expressed interest in studying abroad in France.

“I’m really excited for the possibilities that are ahead. I’m excited to work with the administration, get to know the university better, and better serve the students.”

Hannah Webster is a Staff Writer for The Spectator.

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