The Student Association Senate filled vacancies of primary directors and other key positions during its meeting Sunday.

Tristan Martin, Speaker of the senate, led parliamentary procedure in electing six individuals to take on new roles in SA. 

“We have a lot of leadership experience from the past and new as well,” Martin said. “We have a good mix of new blood and old blood, which is really vital to forming a leadership team. They’re going to be doing a lot of good work because they know what they should be doing [and] they know their expectations and standards.”

Adriana Perez was unanimously elected as the Director of Cultural Affairs and said her goal for the position is to establish a platform for future directors in order for them to bring the resources and help make sure SA has great communication with other student organizations.

One of the main questions and concerns voiced to the candidates was the fact that SA was not well represented at the recent involvement fair. 

Martin said that communication and better planning is key in making sure that the Student Association attends campus events such as the involvement fair. 

Cassandra Kamp, who previously served as a senator, was unanimously elected as the deputy speaker. Kamp said it’s important that SA is well represented around campus and that they are influential to the student body.

“I don’t think we’re representing the entire student population right now,” Kamp said. “We’re the voice of these students, and we can make a difference. I want to take that to the next level.”

Outside of electing in-house positions, the student association also motioned to approve the National Stuttering Association as an official NIU student organization. 

Joey Stoyas, president of the National Stuttering Association, said the purpose of the National Stuttering Association is to find students who stutter and to raise more awareness for the 3 million people in the country who stutter when they speak.

“We want to show them that they’re not alone and there’s other people who stutter out there,” Stoyas said. “We want to help people understand [what] the emotional aspect of living with a stutter is like and to really use amazing resources and opportunities like this to help spread awareness to the community.”

Martin said he is very confident in the dedication and leadership qualities in the group of people elected to new positions. 

“Being a leader of the student association means you’re a leader of the students,” Martin said. “You’re a leader, and that’s the standard.”