With the new semester underway, leaders of Saint Mary’s Student Government Association (SGA) have begun their work for the academic year. Senior Terra Nelson, student body president, said in an email the planning for first-year student programming began over the summer.Nelson said she and student body vice president Olivia Allen, senior, wanted to get an early start of promoting community, the College’s core value for this year. Accordingly, they started with making changes to Belles Beginnings, the orientation programming for new Saint Mary’s students.“Our first order of business was helping to restructure Belles Beginnings,” she said. “Enhancing Belles Beginnings was something we were passionate about, and our community committee co-chairs worked hard this summer to make that come to life. … We believe that community is what makes Saint Mary’s home, and we want to welcome Belles with open arms,” Nelson said. “Through fostering a stronger community, we hope to increase college retention as well.”Another of Nelson and Allen’s planned initiatives is increasing transparency within SGA.“We plan on opening our Student Government Association weekly meetings to all students as to enhance College transparency,” Nelson said.With the recent hiring of a director for the Belles Against Violence Office (BAVO), Nelson said SGA looks forward to the two organizations working together.“We applaud the administration for taking action in hiring a new [BAVO] director,” Nelson said. “All SGA members met with the new director and were able to have a discussion about the safety of our students. … The safety and well-being of our students is one of our greatest concerns, and it is such a relief to have that [director] position filled.”Along with the student body president and vice president, other members of SGA have begun discussing future events.Junior Giavanna Paradiso, chair of SGA’s food committee and co-chair of the community committee said Nelson and Allen have encouraged the various committees to work together to host monthly events. Examples include programming centered on the beginning of school and holidays.“We’re planning a back to school brunch and a Thanksgiving event as well as some giveaways,” Paradiso said.She said SGA wants to make sure Saint Mary’s has plenty of options for students to be involved on campus, particularly given recent policy changes related to transport.“We want to keep people on campus as much as we can, especially because of the changes in transportation,” Paradiso said. “If you have to pay for your own transportation, that becomes costly.”Tags: Belles Beginnings, Community, saint mary’s, Student Government Association
Karim Benzema was sold to Real Madrid for £30m in 2009 – An amazing summer in 2009 saw Benzema arrive at Real Madrid along with Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. He has become an integral part of the Real attack and has won the league twice as well as three Champions League trophies. 11 Samuel Umtiti was sold to Barcelona for £21m in 2016 – Umtiti is only 23, but the centre-back looks like being a Barcelona defender for years to come. He has all the attributes needed to play at the very top level of club football and, alongside Gerard Pique, the club won the Copa del Rey in 2017. Arsenal are the latest club to hand over a sizeable chunk of money to Lyon, with the striker costing £52m.He is the latest in a long line of big names to leave the French club in recent years and here, talkSPORT.com looks at some of the biggest.MORE: Look how much money Benfica have made from their incredible player sales in recent yearsRemain up to date with all the latest transfer news and rumours here. 11 11 Hugo Lloris was sold to Tottenham for £12m in 2012 – He may not have won anything since leaving France, but he has cemented his place as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and one of Spurs fans’ favourite players. Its no surprise he has been linked with Man United and PSG in recent seasons. 11 Mahamadou Diarra was sold to Real Madrid for £22m in 2006 – He helped Real Madrid win successive Spanish titles following his transfer. He left for Monaco in 2011 and later signed for Fulham. Now 36, he spent the 2016/17 season training with Brentford. 11 Eric Abidal was sold to Barcelona for £12.75m in 2007 – Replacing Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Abidal won the league four times in Spain and the Champions League twice, coming back to win the 2011 edition after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour from his liver. 11 11 11 11 Michael Essien was sold to Chelsea for £24.4m in 2005 – Essien became a favourite at Chelsea and of manager Jose Mourinho, who later took him to Real Madrid. A midfield featuring him, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack was a frightening prospect and Essien won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, four FA Cups and the League Cup during his stay. Alexandre Lacazette was sold to Arsenal for £52m in 2017 – Over the last three seasons, Lacazette has scored an incredible amount of goals and this ultimately led to Arsenal spending big to sign him. Gooners are expecting big things from the 26-year-old. Corentin Tolisso was sold to Bayern for £35m in 2017 – Hes only 22, but the central midfielder has already secured a massive move to German champions Bayern. Tolisso has one France cap to his name. 11 Miralem Pjanic was sold to Roma for €11m in 2011 – Since moving to Roma, the playmaker has secured another big-money move to Juventus, who he joined in 2016. He won a league and cup double and played in the 2017 Champions League final. Roma have also recently bought Lyons Maxim Gonalons for 5m. Anthony Martial was sold to Monaco for £4.4m in 2013 – Lyon received money from United when they shelled out £36m for the 19-year-old Monaco forward in 2015. His debut goal against Liverpool endeared him to fans and he finished his first season with 17 goals, including an FA Cup semi-final winner against Everton. Hes already won the FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League. 11 Florent Malouda was sold to Chelsea for £13.5m in 2007 – Malouda spent six years at Chelsea, winning the double in 2010 and the Champions League in 2012. The 37-year-old is currently playing in India. 