SGA Rolls Out New Student App

By Catalina righter
Editor-in-Chief

With the adoption of a new electronic platform called Check I’m Here, the Washington College Student Government Association will enter a new age of data-driven decision making.
“SGA hasn’t really had data to back up the decisions that they make, or at least not good data,” said SGA President Taylor Frey, senior.
This is all set to change with the new platform, comprised of a web portal and an app, which are aimed at keeping students engaged.
“Once all organization’s events are on it and up with the software, Check I’m Here will allow students to really see what’s going on on campus digitally,” Frey said.
The app allows students to see all events that are coming up on campus. from the web portal, they can access further features, like a list of all student organizations on campus and information about their activities and leadership.
“That’s why we’re really excited about it in SGA — it’s another venue for getting students involved in the organizations we really work hard to support,” Frey said.

The app also allows student organizations to check students in at events they attend. This helps them collect better data about attendance for certain events and even the demographics of who is attending via information collected from the student’s ID.
After a semester or two of data collection, the SGA will begin to analyze the data from the platform in order to help student organizations increase their engagement with students.
Ideally, Frey said, “it allows us to really track the types of student groups who are bringing people to events, the types of students who are going to events, and the populations of students in the clubs and organizations that we’re not serving well enough … When you have data, you can make better decisions.”
The platform will not collect information about a student’s identity, and that information will not be available to those who will use the information in the future. It will only collect demographic data like gender, age, and interest in certain student groups.
This broad data has varied uses, Frey said. “I think there are ways for each member of the executive board to look at it. A secretary of social life could look at it and see which social events are most effective and which ones we need to advertise better or change up. A financial controller could look and see which investments per capita are the best investments in terms of a student group…and somebody in my position or a student affairs position could look at it in terms of first year retention.”
According to a campus-wide email sent on Aug. 29, “To help facilitate this transition for our organizations on campus, it is mandatory for club presidents to attend one Check I’m Here training session and claim/update their Check I’m Here page by Sept. 30. If a club or organization fails to attend a training session, the club’s SGA funds will be frozen.”
Training sessions, led by SGA Vice President Audrey Utchen will be held Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Monday, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. in The Egg.

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