Photos by Lucia Campos and Samarie Goffney
With the start of the spring semester, the Student Government leadership team is looking to keep up the momentum and success of the fall term.
The students leading the charge are Student Body President Effua Jordan, Vice President Andres Morales, Chief Justice Alexandria Mitchell, Chief of Staff Lya Lang and Austin Palacios, speaker of the Senate.
Nursing major Effua Jordan is the Student Body president. Jordan acts as a representative leader for the Student Government.
As president, Jordan’s main responsibilities entail overseeing the branches of government, working with university administration and helping the Senate pass resolutions.
She authored and introduced two resolutions of her own last semester, with one passed and the other still in the development stages.
Jordan said last semester she wanted to focus on passing as many resolutions through the Senate as possible. This semester, she wants to continue that effort while maintaining the quality of the resolutions.
“We’ve been going through the resolutions pretty quickly and pretty efficiently,” she said. “But I want to be able to put out more quality resolutions.”
Jordan said her office is always open for students to voice their opinions and share their ideas.
“If they have any ideas about a resolution, I always have senators down there with me who are willing to listen,” she said. “I want people to feel at home with Student Government because we have ‘student’ in the name — it’s for everyone.”
Andres Morales, management and operations and supply chain management sophomore, is the Student Body vice president. Morales acts as chair of the Assembly of College Councils.
Morales serves as Student Body vice president and oversees membership, training and the Maverick Discount Program.
Initially, Morales wanted to be a normal student, he said, but during his orientation, former Chief Justice Kaitlyn Clay asked if he wanted to join Student Government, and he said yes.
Last semester, Morales’ goal was to expand the Maverick Discount Program, which partners with businesses to give UTA students, faculty and staff discounts. He and the Executive Relations Committee were able to grow the program from about five businesses to more than 20.
He also wanted to help students, faculty and staff as bills passed through the Texas House, as well as help incoming freshmen with their transition to the university.
Morales’s Fill the Pantry, Fill the Heart initiative wasn’t initially planned, but it became another one of his projects last semester. During the 43-day U.S. government shutdown, he launched the initiative, which partnered with the Maverick Pantry to receive needed donations.
“Our original goal was to get 3,000 individual donations,” he said. “We had over 7,000, so we more than doubled our own goal.”
His goals this semester consist of training new members and preparing Student Government social events.
“My success doesn’t depend on myself solely — it depends on the members,” he said. “None of us could do our jobs without the members.”
Psychology junior Alexandria Mitchell serves as Student Body chief justice. The chief justice is responsible for representing the judicial branch of Student Government.
As chief justice, Mitchell oversees the Supreme Court, the Election Supervisory Board and the Registered Student Organization fund.
Mitchell used to work with student involvement and often interacted with Student Government, which initially piqued her interest.
“Just seeing everything they did really inspired me and motivated me,” she said.
Mitchell joined the Student Government leadership team around September, and once she stepped in, aided in the process of changing the Registered Student Organization process to be done entirely online.
With elections coming, Mitchell said she hopes to get more students to participate in campus elections than last year. Fall 2025 had more voters than the previous year, and she aims to accomplish the same with the spring 2026 elections.
Mitchell said she works closely with organizations, and that’s where most of her connection to the university lies. One of her goals is to allocate most, if not all, of the available Registered Student Organization funds.
Mitchell also wants to increase student interest in applying to Student Government. She said it’s a good opportunity to get to know people and see change happen within the university in real time.
“I think it’s a very good opportunity to get a new perspective on things,” she said.
Finance sophomore Lya Lang currently acts as Student Government chief of staff. Lang began the role in fall 2025.
As chief of staff, Lang hosts outreach initiatives and plans events for Student Government.
As a commuter, Lang was motivated to join Student Government because she didn’t want to join a major-specific club that might limit her outreach.
“Being able to see the students lead other students and pass initiatives that are actually implemented is really cool,” she said.
Last semester, Lang focused on raising attendance at various events hosted by Student Government. She said she wanted to create a lively and inviting atmosphere, and with the help of the other chairs, achieved that.
“They did so much, and they really helped me out,” she said. “We were able to decorate it more, make it better to where it was more inviting for other people to come in.”
Currently, Lang is focused on keeping up the momentum from last semester. With the SG Loves You event, she’s using a new approach that makes it more interactive and informational for students.
“I feel like a lot of students don’t really know about these events,” she said. “So maybe raising that awareness would definitely bring more people to campus.”
Political science and economics junior Austin Palacios serves as speaker of the Senate. Palacios leads the Student Senate and oversees committees.
Palacios serves as speaker of the Senate, monitoring resolutions, leading the Senate and helping contact the university administration regarding resolutions.
After serving on the executive branch the fall semester of his freshman year, Palacios ran for the Senate in the spring and has been in the legislative branch ever since.
“As I’ve stayed in Student Government for long, I’ve understood how much importance Student Government has,” he said. “I’ve met with other people in other student governments, and we’re a really fortunate Student Government.”
Last semester, Palacios said he focused on learning how to lead a large group, learning his strengths and weaknesses, and what does and doesn’t work.
This semester, he said he wants to focus on getting more resolutions written, especially those that can be implemented more quickly, as well as more diverse resolutions that can leave an impact on different communities within the university.
“A big thing of mine is trying to create incentives for more voices to make more resolutions because I want everyone to contribute to that,” he said.
@taylormakynzee