As the class of 2029 takes their first steps on campus, AMS President Jana Amer, Vice-President (Operations) Elena Nurzynski, and Vice-President (University Affairs) Alyssa Perisa, sat down with The Journal to reflect on their summer term and plans for the fall semester.
The move to the JDUC has been a large part of their summer, and came with its own set of challenges, according to Amer.
“Moving into the JDUC was no easy feat, no building is, but I think that that’s been one huge accomplishment that I think the entire team is really proud of,” Amer said.
This sentiment was echoed by Nurzynski, explaining how it has been especially beneficial for collaboration.
“Moving to the JDUC, compared to the previous building we were in LaSalle, has had a huge shift in how people interact with us [as a team], how they interact with the AMS [more generally], and how our senior managers interact with each other. I feel like there’s so much collaboration happening and there’s so much team building, which has been really exciting to see,” Nurzynski said.
Team JEA also spoke about orientation, claiming there haven’t been any major issues so far. Amer attributed this success to the orientation team, adding one change they made this year was expanding first-year kit pick-up stations beyond a single location, which they said helped reduce congestion.
Just recently, Team JEA sent out a student experience survey designed to gather feedback on what students are looking for in their student government. While the closing date of the survey isn’t mentioned, the survey asks questions relating to feelings of safety on campus, how supported students feel, and preference for communication methods between the AMS and their students.
“We really hope that our students are going to fill that in, because I think it’s going to really help guide us,” Amer said. “We’ll know where students are at, what we need to be making sure we’re advocating for, what we need to make sure to invest in and reallocate resources to or move things around to.”
Election promises
One of Amer’s election promises was the creation of an advocacy toolkit—an interactive diagram hosted on the AMS website designed to centralize a wide range of resources for students. The goal is to give students a clear, accessible way to navigate support and advocacy channels within the University. Amer explained that the project is now in its final stages of development with an expected launch in October.
Following her election, Perisa expressed interest in curating an interactive online training module in place of traditional training documents to read through. Currently, they’re looking into what this project would look like, including what information students need to know during their transition into new roles, but Perisa says this project is still in its early phases.
“I don’t want to make any promises [for when it’ll be finished], because we’re still obviously trying to figure it out. I think in a perfect world, we’d love to have it for the incoming team as something they can work on. I’m not sure if it’s foreseeable, though that it would happen for the next team, but obviously, we’re gonning to do everything we can to get it for them,” Perisa said.
Communication
On internal communication, Perisa pointed out work in her portfolio in the Clubs Commission after the establishment of the Club Help Desk—allowing club executives to file help tickets.
While credit is given to the groundwork laid by the previous executive team, this year’s executives emphasize their focus on improving communication with clubs and ensuring stronger ongoing support. Early feedback has been positive, and the team said they’re committed to maintaining that momentum in other efforts.
“Continuing to send out that Club’s newsletter, we’ve ratification workshops that we’re going to be hosting, Professional Development Day, stuff like that,” Persia said. “We want to make sure that we just keep communicating with clubs so they don’t feel like they’re lost now that we’re going into the new year.”
In relation to inter-executive communication, this year marked the first time the AMS executive election had candidates run independently, rather than as a unified team.
When asked about how running individually has affected their ability to work collaboratively, Team JEA didn’t cite any issues. Nurzynski explained that due to the nature of the roles, they’ve had “to have a bit of blind faith and trust in each other.”
“I think the three of us are able to relate to each other the most because we know what each other is going through and what it’s like to be an executive of the AMS. Nurzynski said. “So, there’s a lot of bonding and relating to each other.”
Services reopening
Alongside the move of the AMS offices to the JDUC following its revitalization, this year, two new AMS food services are also finding a home in the new space—including the Queen’s Pub and the Brew.
READ MORE: Queen’s Pub set to reopen early June after nearly five-year closure
“Having that [The Pub] back in rotation after five years of being closed is really rewarding […] just last night, I was walking down University and seeing the patio full of students was super awesome,” Nurzynski said.
As for the Brew, the service is not yet open, with an opening date on Sept. 8. Nurzynski explained that it’s rewarding to see the Brew come to life, given her previous experience as the Common Ground Coffeehouse Head Manager had her assisting with the planning of the Brew.
“That’s a project that’s also been in the making for five years. I think there were five head managers, including myself, who worked on that to get that ready. So finally seeing it in person, and not just looking at a blueprint, was really awesome.”
Team JEA’s term will conclude on April 30.
Tags
JEA, Summer in review, Team JEA
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