Speaker of the ASUWT Senate reflected on their work this year

ASUWT worked on several noteworthy projects this year, according to Bryce Scholten, Speaker of the Senate.

By Kai Lee

The ASUWT Senate, aiming to represent students at UW Tacoma, has proposed and is organizing several projects throughout the year, including the science snack cart, dental hygiene drive and professional clothing closet. These initiatives each have their own purpose, but all aim to support students. 

Bryce Scholten is the Speaker of the Senate and a senator of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences – Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs. They were elected as the Director of Equity & Accessibility for the next academic year. Once they take office, Scholten will head the Food Equity & Basic Needs Task Force and the Inclusive Access Task Force.  

Science Snack Cart  

The science snack cart is a project by the Senate that aims to address the lack of affordable food options on campus for students after labs, according to Speaker of the ASUWT Senate, Bryce Scholten. The cart would be brought to the Science (SCI) building every Thursday and would remain available for students from 12:30 to 1:30. However, while the cart is planned to be in the Science building, it would be free for all UW Tacoma students, Scholten added.  

Senator Joshua Barnes is leading the project and collaborating with the Office of First Gen to organize and implement it. Senator Barnes is the Senator of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences – Science and Mathematics. 

This project also has challenges, such as encouraging people to visit the cart, as well as finding somewhere on campus that has the extra capacity to help ASUWT address food insecurity, according to Scholten.  

Dental Hygiene Drive  

The dental hygiene drive was proposed to distribute toothbrushes and other dental hygiene products to students. If it is approved, it will aim to provide The Pantry with supplies to give to students, since it often runs out of them. The drive will be held by the Food Equity and Basic Needs Task Force.  

Scholten explained the struggles he is facing in planning the dental hygiene drive.  

“I think it was just the timeline for me,” Scholten said. “I only was able to start planning this event at the beginning of spring quarter, and spring quarter has been so incredibly busy with events and stuff. For ASUWT, we had a lot of elections, we were still holding our senate meetings, we had our executive meetings, we had our town hall, we had our Earth Day collaboration with the Husky Sustainability Fund, and now we’re preparing to transfer into next year.” 

Professional Clothing Closet  

The professional clothing closet will be for students to check out professional clothing for free, whether they need it for an interview, formal event or other situation, according to Scholten. 

The project is being organized by Senator Jayven Coppage, the Milgard Business Senator, who is cooperating with the Milgard School of Business and Husky Sustainability Fund, Scholten noted.  

“I think a lot of people aren’t told that they need to have professional clothing attire when they’re getting ready for college, so they don’t,” Scholten said. “Then you need it on short notice, and a suit, a dress, or whatever you wear to a formal event that makes you feel good are expensive.” 

Reflection 

“Joshua and Jayven have worked so incredibly hard this year, and I think that they have laid a really, really solid foundation for me next year,” Scholten said. “I think there is something to be said, in my opinion, for if you have an issue, and you want it tackled, there are probably other people who are also having the same issue or something similar. I think they say that, or they heard about it frequently, and it was something they just latched onto.”