‘Able to see how the officers collaborate’
Caroline Hendricks is one busy lady.
The third-year European studies and biology student from Greenville, S.C. is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, Omicron Delta Kappa, the USC Connect collegiate board and the Honors College’s honors council.
And now she’s running for student body treasurer.
Hendricks has been involved with Student Government since joining Freshman Council during her first year at USC. She was not involved in student council in high school but knew she wanted to be a part of it in college. Hendricks served as chair of the senate academics committee last year. As president pro tempore of the senate, her current position, she has pushed for online advisement through OneCarolina and assisted with the iPad check-out program.
While Hendricks has focused on academic initiatives in many of her past experiences, she also works with student organizations, she said.
Last semester, Hendricks sponsored legislation to create the department of organizational outreach. The initiative has senators go out to organizations to update them on what’s going on in SG and get input on how Student Government can better serve them.
If elected as treasurer, Hendricks wouldn’t have as much of a hand in legislation anymore.
“The treasurer doesn’t do as much initiative-based stuff as the president or members of the cabinet, but I definitely would focus on making sure organizations use all the money they are allotted,” she said.
If elected, Hendricks will also be in charge of making the SG budget for the 2014–15 school year, something she said she’s not too familiar with right now.
“I’d have a lot of time to get experience in before doing that. And it’s not like it’s a complete blank slate,” she said. “Things don’t fluctuate very much with the budget from year to year.”
Hendricks does have some experience working with SG funds, though.
“I’ve helped the senate finance committee before during the allocation process,” she said.
Hendricks said her leadership experience makes her a good fit for the office of treasurer, and she doesn’t have a problem talking to the people in charge on campus, like administrators, either.
“With my time in Student Government, I’ve been able to see how the officers collaborate and work together, so I have a good understanding of that,” she said.
On a campus where not everyone cares about Student Government, Hendricks said she wants USC students to be aware that SG is involved in more initiatives than they realize.
“With it being such a large campus, Student Government is a little bit different from other organizations,” Hendricks said. “Student Government plays a role in a lot of different organizations that I don’t think many students know about, and I definitely think that’s something we need to work on.”