The student government associations from the Hammond and Westville campuses will work as one entity by holding joint Executive Branch and Senate meetings, Zachary Jakubowski, Westville SGA President, said.

Jakubowski said there is one SGA with branches on both campuses. Prior to the unification of PUC and PNC, each campus had its own individual SGA, with each group advocating for its respective campus.

“Every goal or plan that one campus SGA has, we share and support. If it wasn’t for the teamwork that we share and the support for both campuses, then we wouldn’t be The Pride of Northwest Indiana,” Jakubowski said. “Saying that we are two separate makes it seem as if we weren’t unified. SGA stands together for all the students of PNW.”

Jakubowski and Melissa Sida Diaz took the place of the final PNC and PUC SGA presidents, Travis Ziegler and Candice Ford, respectively.

“The way I feel about serving as president of Westville campus is a great honor that the students have chosen me to be a leading voice for them. I take great pride in this office, and I will fight for the students in every way I can,” Jakubowski said.

“It’s definitely an honor to be able to be the start of something new like PNW. I was previously the chief of staff for three years and felt it was an opportunity for me to help Student Government transition easily with my prior knowledge as well as my craving for innovation,”

Sida Diaz said. “I also love helping other students, and I can’t pass any opportunity for me to make the whole college experience a much easier and rewarding experience.” Sida-Diaz said she worked on trying to get the Hammond campus a new, state-of-the-art Health and Wellness Center her freshman year and that she plans on advocating for that again as well as helping to set up an effective bus route system for students wanting to attend both campuses, starting a scholarship for individual students wanting to attend leadership conferences and providing students with open forums to voice their opinions.

“While this is what we plan to do, it is most important to solve issues for students as they come up during the year, because we exist to serve the student body,” Sida Diaz said. “It seems that this year’s main theme to focus on will be the smooth transition of unification.”

Jakubowski said the SGA positions are similar to previous years, but noted that a few have been unified. Aside from having two presidents (one from each campus to address campus specific needs), he said there are two vice presidents and two chief of staffs, but only one chief financial officer since both SGAs operate on a single budget and one legislative lesion, which fills the role of a public affairs officer. He said there are two senates that consist of 12 members each.

“As for who replaced who, I wouldn’t say that people replaced other people. Looking at PNW, we want to look at this as an entirely new SGA for this new university,” Jakubowski said. “Let the past be a part of the history books and start making our own history moving forward as PNW.”