The first all-Student Government Association meeting of the fall semester was held at the Hancock Welcome Center Sept. 29 to bring all SGA members together to learn from a member of Liberty University’s senior leadership team.
SGA hosted Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Analytics John Gauger as the guest speaker for the meeting.
Gauger has worked for Liberty for over 16 years. He shared his many successes and failures throughout his business career with students.
“I am a many-times failed entrepreneur. Before I had a successful year, and what I mean by that is, making more than I was losing — it was probably seven years of grinding and failing,” Gauger said. “There is no quick path to success.”
Gauger said it takes time to see the results of hard work, but remaining consistent in work and in faith eventually pays off.
“It’s going to take brushing your knees off and getting back up and doing it again. … I would say being faithful to the little things. … Be faithful with the little and you will be given much,” Gauger said.
He said the key to his success was to have a godly group that held him accountable.
“In life, if you don’t have accountability, whether it’s with how you treat your wife … or how we treat our friends or how we do our schoolwork, … you have to have accountability or you’re going to fail,” Gauger said.
SGA Chief of Staff Emma Chupp said this event was designed to bring their staff together to learn from the university’s administration.
“The purpose of this event is to bring in admin and to give a new perspective to students and to help us grow in professional development,” Chupp said. “And then, also in leadership, to get advice from them, and to get to know each other and mingle across the branches of our government.”
She said SGA’s main goal is to unify the student body, so the staff must follow suit.
“We want everyone to feel unified within SGA and to get to know one another because we all work so separately, but really we’re all serving the student body, so it’s good for SGA to learn and grow together,” Chupp said.
Student Body Vice President Isaiah Varella said these meetings are important for team development.
“We want to show them that we care and that we value their work, so we want to put them in contact with leaders where they can ask questions and develop some different legislation” Varella said.
Varella said each meeting will feature a different speaker to reach all career paths of students who work in SGA.
He said he is also thankful for leaders like Gauger who take the time to connect with students.
“It was great for him to put a face to all these different students. He was able to see they’re putting in a lot of effort, not only in legislation, but to come out here to learn and advance their different careers,” Varella said.
He said he hopes these meetings send a positive message to all members who attend. For more information about SGA’s upcoming events, visit their Instagram @libertyusga.
Riden is the on-campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.