August Presidential Recap

Sep 1

*President Kat Hogan’s Introduction at New Student Convocation.*

Hi everyone!

This is Kat Hogan, your student body president, and welcome to the first monthly blog post. I am using this space to recap a few of the highlights from the past month of my work, and I hope to give you all a glimpse at what we are doing for you. You can also access my weekly reports to get a more specific breakdown of what I have been up to. My highlights from August are my trip to the Association of Big Ten Students (ABTS) Conference with Penn State’s Delegation in Minneapolis, MN, the roundtable with the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy I participated in, and Convocation & Be A Part From the Start where I got to meet the new class of Penn State Students!

ABTS Summer Conference

ABTS is an organization composed of all of the student governments throughout the Big Ten, representing over 500,000 students across the country. The network hosts weekly meetings with all of the Presidents, and meets for conferences three times a year, for a Summer and Fall conference, and in Washington D.C. for a Capitol Hill advocacy campaign. The University of Minnesota hosted the Summer Conference from the 13th to the 15th, where the Penn State delegation got to get involved in conversations surrounding international student support, civic engagement, and AI in higher education. It was a great experience and we are so excited to be hosting the Fall Conference here in State College this November.

Roundtable with the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy

Audrey Robertson, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Energy, came to Penn State on August 18th to engage with the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences on behalf of the DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation to speak to students involved in Mining Engineering and related fields. The Assistant Secretary toured our facilities and then engaged with students, including myself, in a roundtable discussion. I got the opportunity to share the work I have done through my experiences in the Center for Critical Minerals’ pilot facility involving acid mine drainage treatment and critical mineral recycling, as well as advocate for sustainable mining practices to the highest level. It was an honor to be involved in the conversation and wonderful to meet Assistant Secretary Robertson.

Convocation & Be A Part From the Start

Maybe most excitingly this month, though, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to meet the new class of Penn State Students, not just at University Park but all the Commonwealth and World Campus first years as well! Addressing approximately 10,000 incoming students, I was thrilled to speak on my experiences and give my advice for new students at the President’s New Student Convocation. More informally, I was able to greet students directly as they arrived at Lion Ambassador’s Be A Part From the Start pep rally, and then later represent undergraduate student government on the floor of the Rec Hall, and hopefully piqued interest in our First Year Council! First year students should apply by September 10th to get involved in our tailored program for UPUA involvement.