Student Body President Michael Martinez spoke to The King’s College on campus today to discuss the state of affairs within the school. SBP Martinez discussed what has happened this semester within the student body, Houses, athletics and student organizations. “I hope this is a cool way to spend your lunch hour,” SBP Martinez said.

SBP Martinez began his speech by discussing the Cabinet and its mission to “helm the student body as its chief visionary and ambassador, valuing stewardship, fortitude and forward thinking.” Martinez said the Cabinet was committed to “walk in love” this year and do anything they can to lift one another up. The mission for the Council as a whole, which includes SBP Martinez, the Cabinet and House Presidents, is to “Shape a virtue-centered culture and enable a student-driven community.”

This semester the Council has given six debriefs to Student Development with feedback from House Presidents, which led to two proposals—one for a new Student Government portal with resources in CAMs and another for a revision in the Student Handbook that cleared up the school’s policy on mutually exclusive student leadership that now allows students to serve on multiple exec teams more easily. Nine amendments to the Council bylaws were written, voted on and passed by the Council. SBP Martinez thanked Director of Finance Emily Bingham for leading the Budget Committee, Director of Spiritual Life Carter Fletcher for leading the Spiritual Life Committee and House of Truth President Evelyn Stetzer for leading the House Future Committee.

SBP Martinez said House Presidents are “willing to tackle issues that matter, but do not take themselves too seriously in the process.” He thanked them for sharpening him, washing the feet of the exec teams they serve and helping the student body succeed.

SBP Martinez said keeping up with Student Organizations is one of his favorite parts of his role. According to SBP Martinez, the seventeen Student Organizations are functioning at a higher level than ever before and are allowing students to pursue their passions. This semester, seven King’s athletes qualified for the Academic All-Conference team and TKC Athletics will be adding a Track and Field team next semester. SBP Martinez said he will be running on it.

SBP Martinez said there is “always a lot going on, but I am happy to do it with you,” and gave the mic to Director of Communications Elle Rogers. DoC Rogers said her role allows her to create systems and processes that enable and empower students. Her goal is to help students take ownership of this community and the smaller communities within it. This semester, DoC Rogers created the first ever “Civics Week” at King’s. Civics Week educated students on why we do the things we do as a community and how to make a home out of King’s.

DoC Rogers has worked on a Council newsletter that includes updates and what is discussed in Council meetings. DoC Rogers says, “A well-informed and properly-engaged student body is important, but it requires leaders who understand that King’s is an institution and know the best practices for shaping community and forming lasting relationships.” Next semester, DoC Rogers will have a Slack channel for social media associates to have access to graphics and information about school events. Also, DoC Rogers is working on a Communication Strategies for Student Leaders handbook that will be available by the end of this semester.

Director of Finance Emily Bingham informed students on the current state of finances. The Budget Committee, including herself, House of Anthony President Kara Simmons, House of Churchill President Rizzuti, House of Thatcher President Anna Wood and SBP Martinez. The committee created the budget, looked at previous budgets and said it is “nothing crazy.” DoF Bingham said her and the committee are not a scary entity and can always be approached with questions. This semester, DoF Bingham and the Cabinet gave Houses a grant for their own fall retreats. The House Retreat grant was used by nine out of ten houses, the retreat was created to encourage bonding between house members. Next semester, there will be at least two personal finance workshops, one taught by Professor Paul Mueller with the topic of “Biblical Budgeting” and the second with certified financial planner Grace Gleeson on the topic of debt and how it affects our lives.

Director of Student Organizations Nick Beckman dubbed this semester to be an “explosion of org events on campus.” With seventeen student organizations on campus, there have been a lot of lunchtime events, “If you haven’t seen that pizza go find it because with that pizza are really cool people doing really cool events,” DoSO Beckman says. This semester, DoSO Beckman along with the help of DoF Bingham was able to grant organizations money through the Student Org Reward Program, a way to give money to orgs that have innovative ideas, but lack the budget to pursue them. Five student organizations were awarded the grant, including Refuge, the Troubadour, King’s Players, King’s Republicans and King’s Dancers. DoSO Beckman would love to see the number of student organizations grow next semester and has a packet of information for anyone who is interested in starting one.

Director of Student Events Lizzy Logan started her update by saying that her goal in this role was to “make something different.” DoSE Logan says her role can easily become the same thing over and over again and she wanted to mix things up. By moving Fall Picnic to Cadman Plaza this semester, the event drew in over 200 students and even alumni. Next semester, DoSE Logan and her events committee will host a jazz night, pie day, Mr. TKC and Spring Formal.

Director of Spiritual Life Carter Fletcher reminded the students that the theme of this semester for him and the Cabinet was The Gospel with a “back-to-the-basics” approach. Over 400 students and faculty members went on Fall Retreat for an entire weekend focusing on the message of the Gospel. This semester, DoSL Fletcher has hosted the Public Reading of Scripture every Monday and guided Spiritual Life associates with House bible studies. Next semester, he encourages students to attend the King’s Day of Service on January 13. DoSL Fletcher said he looks forward to continue working on unity, humility and love to help students know Jesus.

SBP Martinez wrapped it up by announcing what the student body should expect for next semester. On Tuesday, December 5th’s Council meeting, the Council will be nominating students to be on a Christian Formation committee to take up key questions on how to best understand spiritual life at King’s. He encouraged students to clean up their trash and treat the school with dignity, also pointing out a gossip problem on campus. SBP Martinez challenges the student body to take better care of one another and be a community that lays down our stones.

SBP Martinez announced the official dates for the Student Body President Election. The SBP application will be made available on January 26 and the new SBP will be announced on February 21.

Lastly, SBP Martinez gave a shout out to the 2017 December graduates, he listed them all out and said he will miss them.

State of the Student Body Address