The Alabama State University Student Government Association (SGA) Executive Officers (Landon Hale, Kameelah Freeman, Carmell Sanders, and DeJuan Trotman) reflected on their accomplishments from the 2024-25 academic year. From events and student engagement to resources and scholarships, the current SGA administration completed several successful initiatives throughout the year.
SGA Executive President Hale explained that the association strived to improve the overall student experience and campus life. He shared how goals for SGA came to life through collaboration.
“This year, SGA is incredibly proud of the strides we’ve made in student advocacy, campus engagement, and community building,” Hale said. “One of our biggest accomplishments was hosting a highly successful homecoming—turnout was amazing, school spirit was at an all-time high, and it really reminded us how powerful our campus community can be when we come together.”
Homecoming week included several events such as the homecoming concert and football game. Hale added that SGA prioritized student well-being and advocated for improvements to student amenities and resources.
“We’ve also made consistent pushes to prioritize student well-being such as advocating for expanded mental health resources and bringing student concerns about access and awareness directly to administration,” he said. “We worked to secure improvements in student amenities, from study spaces to dining options, ensuring that students feel heard and supported in their day-to-day experience.”
SGA Executive Vice President Freeman shared that the SGA restructured its constitution to make various improvements to operations for the student body, another one of their key accomplishments.
“As vice president my senate passed a large amount of bills to affect our student body,” Freeman said. “Personally, I worked on different initiatives that I ran to remain committed to the work of the student body, including passing constitutional amendments, partnering with the elections committee to help the election run smoothly, and creating an archival system for the SGA.”
SGA Executive Secretary Sanders explained that SGA is the voice for the student body and serves as the bridge between university personnel and students, highlighting that the SGA accomplished more than simply planning events.
“SGA has done a really good job this year of building a good relationship with the Board of Trustees for the student body,” Sanders said. “We do a lot of behind the scenes work and we have a great line of events set up for farewell week, but the bigger chunk of our positions are to be the bridge between the faculty and staff and students.”
SGA was also able to create a scholarship for graduating seniors who meet the requirements for graduation but have a remaining balance. According to statistics from the College Factual, the university has a four-year graduation rate of 14% and a six-year graduation rate of 28%. These graduation rates place the university in the bottom 10% of institutions, an issue the SGA started to address.
“We were able to set up the legacy scholarship so we have all donated to that because we knew that was a big problem for our retention rates and we wanted to support our class,” Sanders said. “Seniors in the class of 2025 are donating $20 to support peers who have all the requirements and credits to graduate but are not able to do so because of a balance. That’s one thing I know we all are really proud of.”
SGA Executive Treasurer Trotman elaborated about how SGA made it possible to directly help the student body that he made incredible bonds with.
“Our student senate body meetings have increased allowing our student body to be more engaged and voice their concerns more,” Trotman said. “As the treasurer this year, I’ve made great bonds in the student body and at the end of the semester, I will also be compensating our student senators who have done their jobs and met the requirements in their senator positions this year.”
