It was barely a year ago that Benjamin Weil and Blane Mader took up their roles as president and vice president of the Student Government Association. They ran with the campaign slogan “We are all Loyola”, promising to pursue six initiatives during their time in office.

Their six initiatives were “finding your Loyola,” campus diversity, going green, professor grading accountability, post-grad test programs and athletic programs.

Six because, according to Mader, “we were so excited about our ideas for Loyola that we couldn’t contain it to one hand.”

Nearly a year later, the pair headed a town hall to reflect on their time in office. The town hall was meant to demonstrate how each of their six initiatives were pursued and completed.

Among these initiatives, they promised to promote niche events and programs going on around campus for the “Find your Loyola” social media campaign. Since then, posters detailing niche events have been posted around campus, letting students know about where and when they can attend, according to Weil.

They also promised to amplify campus diversity. In the past year, SGA has made an effort to sponsor events that continue a discussion on diversity, as well as put aside a part of the SGA budget to promote and sponsor clubs that focus on the topics, such as the D for Deaf Club and the Disability Awareness and Justice Alliance, according to Weil.

They promised to push the campus to go green with the “Maroon, Gold and Green” initiative. Since then, according to Weil, recycling bins have popped up around campus, sponsored by the Coca-Cola Foundation. Weil said that students can expect solar panels attached to the picnic tables in the future as well.

They also promised to push professors to better utilize Blackboard. Weil said that Blackboard use has increased exponentially for both professors and students alike.

They promised to help students who were preparing for graduate school with the “Post-Grad Test Prep” initiative. Weil said that students have been better prepared for the exams with help from the Student Success Center and that 10 students were even able to take graduate school tests such as the LSAT for free due to financial need.

Finally, they promised to help integrate Loyola athletes with the rest of the community. Weil spoke of the several “Game Nights” and other events that SGA helped put on to promote interaction between the two communities.

With their terms coming to a close, Weil and Mader reflected on their experience serving as leaders in the community.

“I think it went fantastic. The six initiatives that Ben and I presented were at first a little daunting, but as we got the ball rolling we made substantial progress on each and every one of them,” Mader said.

Though he wishes they could have made a little more progress on integrating sports communities with non-athletic students, Mader said he was confident that the initiatives they pushed will be carried on by their successors.

“I’m inspired every day,” Mader said.

Many students share the duo’s optimism.

“I think probably the best thing they accomplished was the grad school programs working with the Student Success Center,” psychology junior Terran Lumpkin said. “I think a lot of people are going to say that they haven’t seen what Ben and Blane have accomplished this year, but if they had come to the town hall meeting they would have seen that they accomplished each of the six initiatives. I think they did a very good job overall.”