Jul 01, 2008
She's been in office for little more than a month, but already Kenasha Paul is making changes.
The new vice president for the Student Government Council at Biscayne Bay Campus met with the FIU athletics department last month and pushed to obtain a new Roary costume with a cooling system exclusively for BBC.
"They informed me they were going to have Roary auditions and [I asked] how are the auditions going to affect the Biscayne Bay? Are we going to be able to have a Roary here?," said Paul, who was unanimously elected as vice president by SGC-BBC on May 21.
The athletics department suggested Roary could freelance at BBC, according to Paul. However, to avoid conflicts such as lack of availability, Paul said that BBC would benefit from its own costume.
"It makes more sense for us to have our own costume so we can have it on call and [athletics] understood our reasons," Paul said.
SGC-BBC paid approximately $3,500 for the new costume, which comes with a cooling system to help wearers use the suit for a longer time, according to Paul. The current costume does not have a cooling system and can only be worn for two hours at a time.
Didier Georges, Student Organizations Council president, wore the current costume last summer for BBC's 30th anniversary.
"Because it was hot outside and summer, the costume was extremely hot and I was sweating a lot," Georges said. "While I was wearing the costume, I didn't smell anything, but once I got out of it I was like 'whoa.' The rest of the day I smelled bad."
Paul partially credits this success to her experience as president of Panther Power and the relationship she had with the athletics department then.
Paul's work history includes time as director of legislative affairs from fall 2007 to spring 2008, Panther Power president from spring 2006 to spring 2008 and Campus Life board chair during fall 2007.
Paul, who has been involved with SGA since the summer of 2005, said she plans to find out what issues concern students.
"I'm not sure exactly the plan of how we're going to knock them out but at least knowing the issues is my fist step," Paul said.
Because Paul was not elected by the student body, she will run for vice president in October when the position becomes available again during special elections.