ASUA senators moved to fully fund a UA delegate to attend the One Young World Summit and discussed redesigning the ASUA website and the forthcoming MyUA app during Wednesday’s senate meeting. 

The UA will send a student delegate to the One Young World Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, with the approval of $1,100 in funding from the senate. 

According to the One Young World website, the organization was created in 2009 to bring together young people from around the world and encourage them to create positive change. During the summit, delegates debate and share solutions for issues faced around the world. After the summit, the delegates continue to work on their initiatives with the networks connected to One Young World with the goal of energizing and bringing change to their local environments. 

The event will take place in Bangkok from Nov. 18-21, and the UA delegate will be unable to attend if the senate does not approve the requested amount of funding in full. A debate began between senators over the amount requested, but after consideration of the costs and a full explanation of where all the money would be spent, Sen. David McGarey and Sen. Maddy Bynes said they were more than happy to fund the student delegate’s trip. 

“I would like to encourage you guys actually to consider doing a full funding for this. This is probably one of [the] biggest opportunities UA is presented with,” McGarey said. “In the One Young World Conference, the delegates from the U.S. are extremely limited from Arizona; I don’t believe anyone else has accepted an invitation. The long-term benefits are that it makes the university look more appealing, because we’ve had this kind of impact nationally—and internally it’s a great opportunity.”

Sen. Matt Lubisich, Sen. Natalie Scibilia and Sen. Alexa Jenkins each agreed that it was a necessity to completely fund this student’s trip because of the opportunity it will present to the UA as a university represented at the summit. Scibilia said she wants the student to attend a senate meeting after the summit and present what she has learned as well as how she will locally implement what she has learned. 

Sen. Joe Zanoni and Sen. Alec Kretch were on the fence about funding the requested amount of money for one student and suggested she seek a GoFundMe account to raise the remaining funds. However, after discussing the matter with the rest of the senate, they approved the amount in full, concluding the open discussion for the One Young World summit. 

Continuing with new business, senators held an open discussion and an update on the ASUA programming team. Kretch stated that ASUA programming interns have started working on the senate website, which will include 10 pictures of each senator, a themed calendar, office hours, platforms, emails and links to weekly agendas from the senate meetings.

Kretch said that he and Sen. Trey Cox have also been working on the MyUA app and senate website.

Kretch and Cox proposed a new idea of creating a weekly blog section for each senator to post from. Kretch said he preferably would suggest the website formatting to stay the same for the next couple of years after the updates.

Kretch and Cox are working with the programmers on MyUA, which will include maps of the university, schedules for CatTran times and other tools. The two senators said they would like more graphic designers on board to help re-design the app and are looking for applicants. 

Kretch and Cox said they would like to have a news link to The Daily Wildcat, a Snapchat Discover for The Daily Wildcat, a phonebook for students who need to contact their professors and weekly videos of events on campus.

“The most common feedback on the current app was that people didn’t like all the little icons, so basically, all the less important icons will be on the sidebar,” Kretch said. “Another feature is that you can see how full or empty the parking lots are before you arrive there.” 

Scibilia suggested that the team should create a separate home screen because she said she felt users would be overwhelmed once they open the app. 

The discussion was closed and followed by weekly announcements.
Bear Down Camp counselors will begin their training Monday, and the Freshman Class Council will shadow the senate next week. 

Jenkins said there will be a change in policy for UA health care to provide healthcare for all transgender faculty and students, and Bynes will bring local high school students who are interested in student government to a senate meeting for the purpose of observing collegiate student government.

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