Reitz Union Update

Good afternoon Gators!  I hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend.  By now, I'm sure everyone knows that our beloved Reitz Union is under construction that will renovate and expand our student union to be the best and most advanced union in the nation!  I've gotten a lot of questions about the renovation and what it means for students as well as student organizations.  My good friend Sarah Frick is the Executive Chair for Student Involvement in the Reitz Union Renovation and Expansion.  Here is what she has to say on the renovation and how students can be involved in the process: 

Hello, Gators! My name is Sarah Frick, and I am the executive director for student involvement for the Reitz Union expansion and renovation project. I would like to update you on the current construction, as well as inform you of the ways students are remaining engaged with the project.

Currently, there are three main entrances into the Reitz Union building. From the North, you can enter the ground floor at the Subway entrance or the first floor using the new stair which connects to the student lounge, right outside of the Career Resource Center. From the West, you can enter through the circle drive breezeway by the hotel desk or via the Concourse that runs along the east side of the building from the Welcome Center to the first floor lobby. From the South, you can enter via the Bookstore/Welcome Center entrance.

Coming in mid-November, construction barricade walls will be placed around the center stairs on the ground, first and second floors of the Reitz Union.  These areas are being closed off, so that the stairs can be removed and new restrooms can be built.  The elevators will still be in commission to get around the building.

There are many ways to get involved with the project as a student. The student advisory committee meets monthly to gather feedback from many student groups on campus about the project. Our goal is to represent a wide array of student groups that utilize the union regularly. We send our thoughts and opinions to the architect team to ensure the project is completed with students in mind. In addition to this committee, the Reitz Union ambassadors are working hard for this project. The ambassadors are willing to visit student organizations to provide a presentation on the project to keep students informed. If you would like a few ambassadors to attend one of your organization’s meetings to give this presentation, please contact me at reitz@sg.ufl.edu. Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions for the project, feel free to email me.

If you’re interested in learning more about the project, please visit the project website at: http://makeitreitz.com/. You can also see live video of the construction site at: http://oxblue.com/open/skanska/reitzunion.

Thank you for helping us Make It Reitz! Go Gators!

Guest Post from Student Body Treasurer, Jayce Victor

My good friend, running mate, and current Student Body Treasurer, Jayce Victor, has a ton of updates to share with the student body.  Here is his guest post for today:

Many wonder what the Student Body Treasurer has been up to, well here is a great opportunity to check out his current accomplishments and get a sneak peak of his upcoming goals as well:

April/May 2013

·         During the early summer, Student Body Treasurer Victor, along with the budget committee, heard requests from hundreds of student government funded organizations for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Following student organizational hearings, during the summer, Treasurer Victor had the opportunity to revise the 2012-2013 A&S fee budget and reallocate available funds to student organizations funded by SG. In addition, Treasurer Victor worked with the SG Finance team to increase the efficiency of Docutraq which is the official way of processing goods and services for student groups who are funded by SG. The 3.0 Docutraq system features many improvements and student groups find it easier to navigate. One of the benefits of the new Docutraq system is that it reflects the encumbered and unencumbered balances so student groups know where they stand financially.

June/July 2013

·         Later in the summer months, Treasurer Victor prepared the Student Government budget for fiscal year 2014-2015 and presented the budget before the budget committee. Although he faced challenges with the 5% budget cut, he was able to find a middle ground and reduce spending in unnecessary areas, while still representing the needs of the students. In addition to the Student Government budget, Treasurer Victor worked along with the budget committee held hearings for the rest of the big four organizations (Recreational Sports, Reitz Union, and Student Activity & Involvement). On July 23^rd the Senate passed the final budget of 17,798,535 million dollars for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. One of the challenges that the big four will face this year is a 5% reduction in the budget across the board. This change will affect students, but Treasurer Victor believes in a way this will empower us all to work together and become more inclusive in the things we do.

August/September

·         During the months of August and September, Treasurer Victor trained hundreds of student organizations in order to prepare new officers for the upcoming fiscal year. His goal for training was to find an innovative way to keep students engaged while simultaneously allowing them to retain the useful information that will play a vital role in keeping student organizations fiscally responsible. In addition to training, Treasurer Victor, along with the Reitz Union and Classic Fare, presented a town hall forum called “Know Your Reitz.” This was a great opportunity for students to come out and hear from Reitz Union Director Eddie Daniels and Classic Fare staff about the impact that the Reitz Union renovations will have on their finances.

Treasure Victor continues to manage a 18.9 million dollar budget, where he is responsible for signing off on all expenditures, overseeing student organizations' budgets by processing all SARs and TARs, and frequent training of new officers and new funded groups. In the future, Treasurer Victor also plans to conduct philanthropy through SG finance for groups to donate non-perishable food items and have the opportunity to win a stipend that goes towards their food budget for this fiscal year.  

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Jayce Victor at treasurer@sg.ufl.edu or drop by his office on the third floor in the Reitz Union. 

Guest Post from SBVP Joselyn Rivas

For today's post I invited my running mate, Student Body Vice President Joselyn Rivas, to share everything that she has been working on.  I am honored to work with her and am impressed by everything that she has done!  Here's what she had to say:

During my term, I am honored to announce that all the platform ideas I ran on have been accomplished. I’d love to talk about a few new initiatives this year.

In order to establish accountability, the paperwork process behind Student Government Cabinet has been revolutionized in that we have successfully transferred all of our forms from a paper process to an online, eco-friendly format. Not only has this created a faster turnover in terms of event programming, but also may potentially become a flagship modernization of Gatorconnect that may be useful system to all student organizations.

A “Presidential Roundtable” is currently being developed to build and foster the lines of communication between Student Government and the student organizations we serve. Goals that will be achieved through a monthly meeting between student organization representatives and myself are transparency, collaborations and the prevention of over-programming.

Cabinet Monthly Leadership Trainings are commencing on October 3, 2013 where Cabinet members will come together once a month and perform an event that exemplifies a leadership pillar, such as community service. Our responsibility as student leaders is to actively impact our campus and community by giving back. 

Applications for Assistant Directors for various Cabinet Departments will be released in early October 2013. These may be found on https://www.sg.ufl.edu/Applications  

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Vice President Joselyn Rivas, at vicepresident@sg.ufl.edu or stop by my office hours!