USG holds banquet for student groups
The Undergraduate Student Government External Affairs team hosted their bi-annual Council of Presidents at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Ballroom Wednesday. This networking event brought more than a hundred USC organizations together to give them a chance to open communications with USG and each other.
Lexi Orozco, director of external affairs, proceeded to give an introductory speech.
“On behalf of myself, my associate Ian Scott, and president Rini Sampath, we want to thank you for taking your time to come out here and be recognized for your contributions to USC,” Orozco said. “We’re hoping that this event, at the beginning of the year, can form connections and collaborations that will bring different clubs together.”
Daphne Blakey, president of the Recreational Club Council, said that the event was a great way to streamline the networking process between recognized student organizations.
“It’s cool to meet other leaders to find out what’s going on on campus so we can probably working together,” Blakey said.
Ian Scott, assistant director of external affairs, noted that the attendance of this event was far better than one that USG initially put on in the fall.
“Last year, we did the [Council of the Presidents] in fall at the end of the semester, [and] now we are hosting the event in the beginning of the year,” Scott said. “We want to have a comfortable environment for all USC club organizations. When we hosted the event in fall, not a lot of club representatives showed up. Now we changed the time to spring so organizations can have a better sense of what USG is, where we have open arms to help whenever they need it.”
USG President Rini Sampath wants the connection between club organizations and USG to be strong not only for the benefit for of the club now, but in the future.
“Take a moment to look around and the students in the room. My hope for all of you to know the individuals around you,” Sampath said. ”It’s more fun to live in the moment. You may never know the people you get to meet and the impact they will have on your lives.”
The event also helped recognized student organizations get into contact with each other while enjoying Pasta Roma. Abha Nath, president of Engineers Without Borders, who hopes to collaborate with the Trojan Youth Soccer League following the event.
“We hope to work with the Trojan Youth Soccer League in terms of management and finance,” said Nath.
Claire Chatinover, president of Chalk the Block, hopes to collaborate with Elise Green, co-captain of the women’s lacrosse team, to bring awareness of her club and inspire troubled children around USC.
“We hope to work and bring our clubs together. We want to help each other out,” Chatinover said.
Green was also excited to collaborate with other groups.
“Although we are a branch of the Recreational Club Council, we are excited to work independently with other groups,” Green said.
Overall, Scott was pleased with the outcome.
“When I first started at USG, The room used to be empty with chairs, now we’re bringing in more tables and chairs to accommodate more students. I think social media and the marketing team did a great job,” Scott said.
Correction: A previous version of this article identified Lexi Orozco as co-assistant director of external affairs and Ian Scott as co-associate director. Orozco is the director of external affairs and Scott the assistant director. The Daily Trojan regrets the errors.