New Student Government leaders share plans for 2024-25

The UND student body recently elected its new president and vice president for the 2024-25 school year. Outgoing Vice President Connor Ferguson, a senior from Maple Grove, Minn., was elected president. He is majoring in Information Systems and minoring in Cybersecurity. Junior Maya Orvis of Crosslake, Minn., was elected vice president. She is working toward her degree in Medical Laboratory Science, with a focus on Pre-Medicine and Biology.

UND Today recently asked the new leadership team to share some of what might be in store for next fall.

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Q. The Ferguson-Orvis campaign stressed the YOU in its youNDforever slogan. Can you tell our readers what’s behind the mantra, and what it really means to you and other students at UND?

Ferguson: Really for us, the YOU came from a focus on our fellow students. We wanted to be clear that everything we stood for was about the needs of others — kind of like creating a campus focused on you.

The ideas that we shared in the campaign weren’t just our own. They came from conversations we had with people all around campus. We wanted to be sure that when we crafted our campaign, it heard all voices and encompassed everyone’s needs. I mean, my needs as a student in Nistler College (of Business & Public Administration) differ from Maya’s needs in the School of Medicine (& Health Sciences), and we know that our shared needs may differ from the needs of many others.

Orvis: Like Connor said, our focus is to make UND a placee that is absolutely tailored to each student, whether that means springboarding students into their careers, setting them up for graduate or professional school or simply enriching their experience while at the University.

We want everyone to enjoy, benefit and grow from their time spent in school here.

Q. Interestingly, the UND Alumni Association & Foundation launched its similarly named ForeverUND campaign. (That comprehensive campaign focuses on fundraising for four important areas: capital projects, student scholarships, faculty and research, and programs and priority needs.) Though the two campaigns are independent of one another, both are trying to create that lasting connection between students and their alma mater.

Why do you think it’s so important for all students to feel and experience that affinity?

Ferguson: Mostly where we went with the “forever” portion of our slogan was developing projects that lasted after our administration ended. I think it’s important for students to feel that affinity because being at UND is about being a part of a larger community. Having been students together has allowed us to share experiences and create new relationships unique to our time here.

Orvis: Another take on the “forever” portion is the idea that UND is something that shouldn’t have an impact on us for only the four years we are students here. In addition, our school should prepare and push each of us to be a better person, so that we can use the skills and the connections made here for many, many years after graduation.

Q. How did you come to settle on the three platform points of wellness, community and student success? In what ways do those areas resonate with students as a whole? And are there any specific ways online students will benefit from your work?

Ferguson: For us, it simply was finding buckets that fit our goals. We came up with a list of things we wanted to do — or issues students faced — and then tried to pair them up in three easy groups. I’m hoping our online students can benefit from the mentorship program we want to help create, as well as the programming we hope to put on with Student Involvement. Maya and I are very interested in working on some engaging online programming that could help bring UND to our online students.

Orvis: It felt very all-encompassing in terms of what we deemed was most important to get out of a college degree. Wellness is the foundation. Without your health, you can’t focus on relationships, goals, etc. Community is huge in Grand Forks because without each other, not nearly as many wonderful opportunities, events and milestones would be reached by the college or the community. Success, of course, is what most people think of when attaining a four-year degree, so this kind of wrapped everything up with a nice bow. All three points hinge on one another, so we hope to strengthen each one so students are as effective as they can be during and after their time at UND.

Q. As far as wellness, you talk about partnering with Facilities on a safe campus initiative as well as revitalizing the UND Wellness Center and providing more fresh food alternatives. What do you mean by all that? Can you expound with specific ideas for each and tell us what you might already have in the works?

Ferguson: As we spoke with various student organizations, we heard concerns about food accessibility, particularly for our international students. We’re hoping to work with UND Dining Services to develop offerings in Stomping Grounds and the Express Store to allow students some more fresh food options on campus.

Orvis: I personally love our Wellness Center, and I love how many people use the facilities offered there. That being said, I think there are some updates we could do to maximize the space within the Wellness Center so more people could enjoy it. We hope to put together a committee of students — people who regularly attend the “Welly” — who can decide what is the best use of the space, what machines are just collecting dust and what new machines might add to the experience.

Changing the layout is another option to maximize use. We just want the Wellness Center to be everything a student is looking for in a fitness center.

Q. The University long has prided itself on its strong Town/Gown relationship with the Greater Grand Forks community. As student leaders, how do you intend to further those partnerships? And how do you plan to drive widespread participation from students who already are juggling multiple responsibilities?

Ferguson: One way we plan to further partnerships is by creating a committee that involves University representatives as well as representatives of various organizations within Grand Forks to find places for collaboration. We would like to have more students involved in community events, and we would love to see people from the city look into some of our University events. When it comes to navigating responsibilities, I think communication is key. I’m friends with some of the busiest people imaginable, but when they know about something interesting, they find a way to go. If the event is exciting and marketed well, people will find a way to come.

Orvis: As you mentioned, UND and the Greater Grand Forks community have a symbiotic relationship. One can exist without the other, but neither would be as wonderful as they are in conjunction. The best way to further these partnerships is to do so in a way that’s convenient for both students and residents of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. Events such as The Big Event get hundreds of our students into the community because it is so well organized by staff and students at UND. Everything is set up and in place, so students simply show up ready to get their hands dirty, and all the rest is taken care of. The ease of this allows for many people who are already super involved to still make time to get out into the community. I know Connor and I both participated and had an amazing time!

Q. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how ambitious is your plan to establish a new traveling trophy between football rivals UND and North Dakota State University? What kind of ideas have been thrown out there so far? And do you have any sense at all yet of NDSU’s interest in resurrecting this practice?

Ferguson: Honestly, I think it’s about a 5. NDSU Student Government has expressed interest in establishing the trophy, and the Legislature passed HCR4011 a few years ago, calling for UND and NDSU to establish the trophy. So far, we’ve been brainstorming names and looking into potential design ideas. Both student governments have been interested in involving the student bodies in the design process for the trophy.

I know NDSU’s student body is less interested than UND’s, but I think that’s partially due to us not playing consistently for 20 years. There’s work to be done for winning people over, but students don’t seem totally against it.

Q. Your campaign also mentioned how you would develop community partnerships that would bring engaging events to campus. What sort of new or exciting things can we look forward to next year?

Ferguson: One thing we are interested in is a partnership with the Empire Arts Center to bring local bands to campus. We had a local band at the Student Government Grill-Out Event, which was very popular, and we would like to continue that while partnering with local organizations. Maya and I also are looking into partnering with organizations downtown to try to bring students into Grand Forks to see all there is to offer. I think a lot of students look at downtown as a place primarily reserved for people who are 21, but we’d like to show off events going on in the city, as well as partner on planning some programming.

Q. Of course, the main reason students are here is to learn, and your campaign platform laid out a few different paths to help support that and overall student leadership and success. Tell us something about the student innovation zones you plan to establish.

Ferguson: I was recently at Iowa State, where I toured its new Student Innovation Center, which allows students from every college to collaborate with each other in creative ways. It was super cool, and I thought it was something we should offer. Of course, a whole new building is a very tall order, but we would like to work with the Center For Innovation to help them have some physical locations around campus proper. I have met several students with great ideas, but they don’t know the people to help them develop their ideas into reality.

We would like these innovation zones to build connections between students and help them develop their exciting ideas.

Q. You also talked about developing alumni mentorship programs, leadership training events put on by student organizations and working with Career Services to provide some new services. What new things are we most likely to see in that realm next year? What’s missing now and how will students make themselves more informed and more marketable with the enhanced training and services?

Ferguson: We would love to work with the UND Alumni Association & Foundation to create a process for matching interested alumni mentors with students in the same or adjacent fields. I think that sometimes as students, we don’t know the full breadth of what our degrees offer, or some of the pathways to success. Our hope is that UND alumni can get involved in developing our students for amazing careers.

When it comes to Career Services, we would like to help them offer some training in “soft skills” that are needed across industries.

Orvis: I feel we need to do a better job preparing our student leaders. Oftentimes when new student organizations are created or there is turnover in the executive position of existing student orgs, new officers are pushed into their roles with little training on how to effectively run their groups. There are little nuances that can be incredibly frustrating and stressful for someone who just took over in office and is learning to manage an entire organization.

What Connor and I want to do is put together some leadership training sessions and get more information into circulation to allow groups to know exactly where to find what they need in order to accomplish their goals.

Q. We had a chance to look at your Instagram posts @ferguson_orvis_und. Is that something new created just for the campaign this year, or do you plan to continue to connect with students and push out new info that way?

Orvis: We did create that for the campaign this year, but we plan to push students to the UND Student Government Instagram account. That’s more of a central hub of information — not geared so much to us and the campaign, but rather to the entire Student Senate and student body.

Q. What do you see as the single biggest challenge for UND students today? How about challenges in the current world we live in?

Orvis: I think the biggest challenge for any college student is that transition from high school to college. It is so not talked about. The change in independence and freedom is HUGE — I know I really struggled with finding my way for a while.

I think the more we talk about it, the more people will realize everyone goes through it, and it’s OK to be uncomfortable or nervous. That just means you are growing.

As far as the current world we’re living in, I feel that our challenge is finding meaningful connections with one another. A lot of our lives have become so instant that delayed gratification is not as prevalent, so when connecting with others, it can be easier to have that surface-level connection rather than actually getting to know someone.

Q. And this one for serious contemplation or just fun (with an explanation behind it) … If UND students were able to collect a superpower along with their diplomas, what superpower would you want?

Ferguson: I would choose the ability to control time. I never feel like I have enough time for everything I want to do.

Orvis: Teleportation, I could go anywhere and would never have to drive in the winter again