SPB aims to provide fun

The Student Programming Board (SPB) plans so you can play.

At least that’s what our next shirts will say – anything but those ugly, ghastly and (most of all) plain white shirts we have now with those old-fashioned school colors.

Don’t get me wrong: Red and blue are nice but it’s like, come on, we plan events like the midnight bike ride every year and the casino night everyone loves. Don’t we deserve better than that?

Well, I sure think we do and since I’m the current president or chair, as some might say, of the SPB I think it’s only right to treat my members to something of their own.

Akilea McKay, president of SPB, has a nice ring, doesn’t it?

I know it does. I’ve been hearing it all year. People should be used to it by now.

They know who to come to when they need answers. And the “they” are students, like me, so of course they have questions.

I’d actually be worried if they didn’t.

That would mean I’m either doing my job too good or they don’t even care – and that’s the last thing I want.

Students should care about what happens on campus and not just academically either.

 As SPB chair, I try my best to provide fun and entertainment to the student body.

That’s why our events are always held in the evening or located somewhere in the student union and not in an academic building.

Every student needs a break from schoolwork.

What better way to do that than by coming to one of our movie nights, enjoying some free pizza and just letting loose for a couple hours?

I think that’s the biggest pleasure and the worst fear of being president of SPB. You have this horrid anxiety that no one will show up to your events.

It can be very nerve-racking and stressful at times but when that first person finally shows up, usually a gang of people follow and then I’m okay again.

I definitely wouldn't be able to do any of this without the organization’s advisor and its wonderful members.

Without my advisor I’d be doing everything by myself and without my members I’d literally be by myself, so either way I need them.

We’re all students. We’re all equals.

I want to accomplish the same things they do.

As president, it’s my duty to make every member of the organization feel comfortable and somewhere they want to be.

We’re a very diverse group of people and even though we all might not look like family, I try to make us feel like a family.

I do my best to make sure everyone knows each other’s names so they don’t feel like strangers to one another.

I remember coming in as a freshman last year, not knowing anyone. When I finally joined SPB, I met friends who remain some of my most cherished to this day.

McKay is a VN staff writer