Each semester, students receive emails and see fliers around campus about events they can go to that might reduce their stress, provide a laugh and help them meet new people. These events are put together and ran by the Student Activities Council (SAC), who meet every Thursday at 6:30 pm in the basement of Harter Union.

This organization is led by Director of Student Life Randy Flowers as well as senior Kinsey Ford, who is the president of the council. The organization has been able to put on many events for students every semester, including Grocery Bingo, Study Breaks and the Last Lecture series.

The Last Lecture series involves faculty giving what would be their final lecture about any topic, and is considered to be a staple of the university, according to Flowers.

“My favorite thing that SAC has done for the school is create the Last Lecture Series,” Flowers said. “This program was developed and introduced in the spring of 2012, and has been a staple program of the university. SAC continues to strive to find sustainable programs that become signature programs of the university.”

Sophomore transfer-student Abbie Manhart has really enjoyed the events put on by SAC and has attributed her smooth transition here to them.

“My favorite event that SAC has put on this year would have to be the Last Lecture,” Manhart said. “I love Dr. Wintermantel and I loved her speech. The Last Lecture was definitely my favorite, but I also really enjoyed Grocery Bingo and the comedian at the very beginning of the year. They were both really fun and stress-relieving, and helped a lot with the transition to Baker.”

Senior and Vice President of Membership and Operations Hannah Remick joined SAC her freshman year and has seen how it has changed in her time here.

One issue that has been on the rise for SAC is the decreasing number of members. For Remick, this ties directly to her executive position in the organization.

“Our membership has gone down a little bit in numbers, we are a little bit closer and we’ve set new goals for how many people we want to meet our events,” Remick said. “We’ve tried new things, as in different acts we’ve brought in to perform for the students as well as starting to listen more to what people want.”

Bringing in new activities, advertising the meeting time for SAC and putting up information posters at events are all ways that SAC is working to create more of a boost in their numbers.

Flowers said SAC is always striving to meet new goals and to improve as an organization, and this dynamic is necessary.

“Every day SAC could improve in many ways. That could be through developing new student’s leaders, increasing communication within the organization and the university, along with being creative in program offerings,” Flowers said. “If SAC strives to do what they completed the year before, they would be stagnant and irrelevant for the university.”

While SAC is always looking to improve, they will continue to contribute to student life on campus while also allowing its members to improve necessary skills, like leadership and cooperation, and that form of education is Flowers’ favorite things about the organization.

“Every day is a different day in the world of student activities. Not only is there different student leaders each year, most programs introduced to the campus are completely new experiences,” Flowers said. “This allows for leadership abilities to be challenged continuously and allowing for the development of student leaders skills.”