By Rory Dulock | Copy Editor
Coming back for its second year, A Waco Welcome brought back new and old faces — and Baylor’s student government made its first appearance.
With over 60 vendors, local businesses, Baylor departments and organizations gathered from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Hurd Welcome Center, incoming students and their families were given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with what Baylor and Waco have to offer.
This time around, student government wanted to be a part of introducing themselves to the new members of the Baylor community.
Pflugerville senior and Student Body President Landon Self said this was the first time student government was involved with A Waco Welcome, and that they must introduce themselves to the freshmen class.
“It’s important to me for [student government] to connect with as many new students as possible because they’re starting their Baylor journey today,” Self said. “I reached out to New Student Programs and asked how we can be involved, and they offered us a spot here to table … I instantly said yes, because I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to connect with our incoming students.”
Self said A Waco Welcome is a good opportunity to “integrate students into Baylor and Waco” since there are vendors from the community along with campus partners. By introducing themselves to incoming students, Self said it gives newcomers awareness about student government’s role on campus.
“If they want to join us, they’re more than welcome to run,” Self said. “But also, we’re not really here necessarily to just recruit. We’re here to meet people [and say] ‘You’re a student here. This is your home. This is where you live. This is where you’re going to grow into a better human being. How can we be here for you?’ Because after all, we are here to serve a student body.”
By connecting with the students and their families, Self said their feedback will help determine how they approach the upcoming school year — by focusing on students’ needs and concerns.
“A lot of parents that have been here with their students have asked about the student government airport shuttle that we’ve done in years past, and this was a campaign promise of mine — to bring back the airport shuttle — and it just reinforces the need of why we need to provide that service,” Self said. “I look forward to getting to work and figuring out how we can best implement this program for students.”
Parker sophomore and Student Senate PR chair and chaplain, Lucy Dennis, said her role in student government allows her to facilitate its relationship with the larger student body. And participating in A Waco Welcome is just the beginning of her plans for campus engagement in the upcoming school year.
“Something as PR chair that I really want to work on is more physical campus engagement to show to the rest of the student body that we care, that we are engaged and want to give back to the student body,” Dennis said. “I think events like tabling on Fountain Mall … are so important to engage with students and have those conversations, whether it’s related to student government initiatives or not.”
Dennis said she remembers coming to A Waco Welcome as a freshman last year and realizing how much Baylor has to offer. Dennis was excited that student government had the opportunity to come out to a “place so full of spirit.”
“This year as Senate chaplain, I’m really looking forward to fostering an environment of love and community — and as PR chair, a committee that is so relational and focused on every person as an individual,” Dennis said. “I’m really looking forward to the relationships that are formed and all the change that we can make from there.”
Dennis said there will be another opportunity for students to engage with student government during Late Night from 8 to 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 30.
