With a week until their first meeting, members and leaders of the Student Senate are finishing up the things they worked on all summer, planning for the new year and working to fill the 15 open students senate seats they have.

Mitch Gurick, a sophomore business education major, was elected speaker of the Student Senate at the end of the Spring 2012 semester and is now in charge of running the senate meetings, filling vacancies and dividing the group in committees.

For one of his for official acts in the position, Gurick decided to open a summer session of the Student Senate, something that has not been done in more than five years.

“We wanted to do it to get a jumpstart on the year, especially with so many empty seats,” Gurick said. “It was completely voluntary for those involved, two were taking summer classes and one lives in the area.”

The three senate members worked on a variety of projects and met with the student government executives on a monthly basis.

“At the beginning of the summer I basically outlined what I wanted them to get done,” Gurick said. “They met with debut leaders and greeted new students as they came for orientation.”

The senate members also worked to compile packets for Student Senate committee chairs and a survey to place senate members on said committees.

Gurick said he had about 20 applicants for the open positions and had begun the interview process.

New appointees will be sworn in at the groups first meeting of the semester.

Along with fill open positions, Gurick has also been busy planning his goals for the new semester.

“Being young, I don’t always know if what I am doing is right, but I’m trying,” Gurick said. “I am a student first and a student senator second, I am not entitled to any special because I have a placard and name tag, I’m here to serve the students.”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.