By Piper Sartison
Elm Staff Writer
Washington College Student Government Association welcomes sophomore Nicole Chimezie as the new financial controller in a Sept. 20 email.
Originally from Albany, N.Y. Chimezie is a double major in economics and philosophy with a public health minor. She finds passion in helping the WC community and is looking forward to becoming involved with the balancing of the College’s student budget.
The role of the financial controller is to review and approve the budgets that are sent in by clubs in the community.
According to senior and SGA president Kat DeSantis, the financial controller is hired via JobX application. She said she found Chimezie’s application stood out.
“[Chimezie] brings a lot to the table in terms of intelligence, competency and passion for the position,” DeSantis said., “She just did her first budget cycle, and we got our first budget pass. She’s been a great addition to the team so far and we’re super excited to get to know her.”
Chimezie has worked with the SGA for two weeks alongside the interim Financial Controller and the Director of Communications and Office Management senior Liz Hay.
“I just really appreciated the ideas [Chimezie] brought to the table,” DeSantis said.
According to DeSantis, one of Chimezie’s ideas was focused on how to improve “the budget process [in making] it more understandable for club presidents,” as well as ways the SGA can help with fundraising.
“This semester we are being lenient in [the approvement] of clubs because we really want to make clubs stay alive,” Chimezie said.
Her main focuses are currently directed toward support of the clubs, projects, and the budget.
She plans to create a calendar where students can see all the monthly events. She hopes it will improve the connection between students and the clubs. An aspect of this position that she really enjoys is the involvement she has with the community.
“[There are] a lot of ways to continue improving, [and] we’re trying to make the [SGA] more transparent … Just trying to bridge that gap between [the budget committee, the SGA and the students], ” Chimezie said. “We are for the students.”
According to Chimezie, this position helped her realize how big of an impact she can make on the WC community. “It’s not just about the budgets, [it’s about] the students,” she said.
While Chimezie had no previous experiences working with the SGA, she has completed professional internships in the past. “I feel very supported [in the SGA community] … [and] as someone who wasn’t a part of the SGA at all, I can see that they are really trying to create more transparency,” she said.
Photo by Izze Rios