Application requests are due by Nov. 29 for the Dec. 6 meeting.
By Andrea Moreno
amoreno439@student.alamo.edu
The Student Activity Fee Committee approved two organizations’ fund requests at its monthly meeting Nov. 1.
Austin Hahn, mechanical engineering sophomore and president of the Society of Physics Students, spoke on behalf of the organization for a request to participating in the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
The convention will be Jan. 5-10 in Seattle.
The society submitted a request for $9,974.88, but the proposal changed at the meeting.
Before the meeting, the society originally wanted to take four students and one adviser, which totaled $9,974.88.
The society will now be taking five students and one adviser, brining the cost up to $11,910.27.
Hahn said the convention they requested to attend will allow for the students to “learn, to work on networking and to get internships.”
After the presentation, visual arts Professor Qing Liu, said the Society of Physics Students’ request was a reasonable amount and will have good benefits for the students.
English Professor Laurie Coleman agreed with Liu.
The allotment was passed unanimously.
Rho Sigma Gamma, a student organization for mortuary science majors, requested funds for bus transportation Nov. 8-11 to New Orleans for an educational excursion to learn how cemeteries and funeral homes work in Louisiana where a high water table does not permit underground burial, mortuary science Professor Mary Mena said.
The group requested $4,595 for bus transportation from the student activity fee.
The trip usually has 45 participants but now only 30 students and seven faculty have gone on the trip.
Some students not passing courses were not allowed to take the trip.
Before the changes were made, the total costs were $16,113.98, which included meals, hotel, transportation and a tour in New Orleans.
The expenses will now be $12,070.
All participants are paying $365 and the rest of the funds are being paid through the funds the organization has collected from fundraisers.
The Rho Sigma Gamma application was approved.
There were eight voting members present at the meeting.
All five student voting members were present: Karen Ortiz, business sophomore and Student Government Association president; Diana Flores, American Sign Language sophomore; biology sophomore Connor Ghita; liberal arts sophomore Lola Johnson; and social work sophomore Lynette Gonzalez-Vidal.
The other faculty voting member present was ASL Professor Brian Barwise.
Applications requesting funding from the student activity fee are due Nov. 29 to Mark Bigelow, interim director of student life, in Room 260B of Loftin Student Center for consideration at the last meeting for the fall semester at 3 p.m. Dec. 6.