Marquette Student Government senators will partner with the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning to help them form its own student government.
Aliya Manjee, MUSG senator and sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she shaped the idea to partner with WCLL while working at Foley & Lardner LLP, a local law firm.
“The law firm does a lot of work with the school already,” Manjee said. “This is a school that is literally right next to Marquette. How can Marquette get involved?” she said.
Manjee said one of the exciting parts of partnering with WCLL is that it is the school’s first year with a student government. MUSG has an opportunity to help WCLL form and shape the beginning of the program, Manjee said.
One of the other seven senators accompanying Manjee, Cameron Vrana, a freshman in the College of Business Administration, said student government is important because it encourages scholarship and leadership.
Manjee said the activities for the students revolve around forming a mission statement and recognizing differences in leadership styles.
“We will be starting with icebreakers to make students feel comfortable and then more into developing a mission statement as well as individual, group and community values,” Manjee said.
The importance of this interaction between WCLL and MUSG, Manjee said, is to expose students to the value of student government. Another benefit is to help the students make changes to move their school forward.
WCLL focuses on literacy and math goals in its students, Manjee explained. Manjee added that she hopes MUSG senators can incorporate this importance into the mission of the newly formed student government.
“They might see the passion in us, or it might spur a passion in them to continue doing this type of work,” Manjee said. “This also shows kids that they have a voice to be heard so they can continue to do that in student government and also in life.”
Manjee said MUSG hopes to continue the partnership and meet with WCLL at least once a month and frequently throughout next year, to help them plan service and program events at their high school.
Vrana said the partnership with WCLL will be mutually beneficial to the high school students and Marquette students. She added that Marquette students have an obligation to serve the greater Milwaukee community.
“We are located in downtown Milwaukee and as a university here, we should have a good relationship with the schools and the community here,” Vrana said.
Another goal of the program is to bring the high school students to the Marquette campus and expose them to college life, Manjee said. Vrana added that by having Marquette show a presence in the school, students might aspire to attend the university.
“To get them to believe Marquette could be their university is beneficial in the long run,” Vrana said.
“We may be three blocks away, but this might seem like a whole new world to the high school students,” Manjee said.
The senators will be collaborating with the high school students at WCLL for the first time Friday from 2-3:30 p.m.
