With the Student Government Association executive board elections coming up next week, President Wallace Mullins, senior speech and journalism major, will be giving up his position to Taylor Phoumivong, junior double major in sociology and speech communications.

Mullins decided he wanted to be president of SGA halfway through his term as secretary of public relations. He said, “I felt like I wanted to continue on the executive board in a higher position to continue giving back to the student body.” One of Mullins’ major goals was to help publicize SGA and create a bigger presence on campus. Mullins said, “SGA has been a huge part of who I am ever since I came to college.”

Mullins said being SGA president has taught him a lot about planning and time management. Clay Wyllia, junior double major in broadcast journalism and speech communications and SGA secretary of student development, said, “I think Mullins has had a good connection with the students and our campus. He is a very well involved president so when we have an event, he has the connections we need for assistance or participation.”

Allen Simmons, junior emergency management major and SGA secretary of community outreach, said, “Mullins has been a good leader for SGA and has pushed for more involvement with all the senators. He’s impacted the students through the minor changes we’ve been able to implement across campus, such as the improved lighting.”

Phoumivong is the current SGA secretary of public relations and chairman of WonderWeek. Simmons said “I fully believe Phomuivong will be able to lead SGA. He’s a proven leader who is eager to take SGA to a new level.”

SGA members say that they think Phoumivong is always coming up with new ideas and improvements. Wyllia said, “I think Phoumivong will be a spectacular president. He and I have had multiple conversations about the positions and if we were able to have 'running mates' we would be running and campaigning together. He and I are constantly texting each other ideas for next year, whether it be an event for the campus or just something we need to work on as an organization internally.”

SGA’s goal is to be the voice of the students to the Arkansas Tech administration. The SGA president has the responsibility of making sure the administration hears all ideas and goals that SGA has to offer. Mullins said he has learned a lot from being SGA president but he says he expects great things from Phoumivong.

The Arkansas Tech University chapter of Enactus partnered with Main Street Mission on Friday to hold its first budgeting and nutrition seminar, offering low-income families in the local community tips for eating healthy on a budget free of charge.

17 local residents attended the seminar held in the dining area of the mission, led by Lindsey Falkenstein, Enactus member and project leader of "Let's Can Hunger," a joint hunger relief project between Enactus and Campbell Soup Company.  Falkenstein used a Powerpoint presentation divided into two major sections: budgeting and nutrition.

Falkenstein tied the two concepts together by leading a discussion on how to eat healthy on a budget and made reference to couponing and seasonal shopping.  Several attendees offered advice to one another during the discussion such as where to find the best meat or which meals were easiest and most cost-effective to make.

After the presentation, a representative from Cooking Matters signed several attendees up for "tours" of local supermarkets such as Kroger and Cash Saver.  During these tours a representative will teach participants skills such as the ability to read nutrition labels and ingredient lists more precisely.

Amanda Sparks, president of the Arkansas Tech University chapter of Enactus, said that Enactus chose to host the event at Main Street Mission because of the relationship the group has with them and the needy community members in Russellville.

"The mission has a great relationship with the needy people in the community," Sparks said.  "[The needy] know their identities will be protected, and they just feel comfortable there."

Sparks, senior double major in management and marketing and economics and finance from Berryville, said that the key goal of the project was hunger relief; instead of just collecting canned goods, Enactus wanted to provide people with the resources to "break the cycle of hunger."

"We want to teach people how to fish instead of giving them fish," Sparks said.

Although the event was open to anyone in the community, those who struggle to provide healthy and nutritious meals for their families were the target audience for the seminar, so Enactus focused marketing efforts on the patrons of Main Street Mission, Sparks said.

"We knew we could reach the right demographic there," Sparks said.

Sparks said that the group expected attendance numbers for the seminar to be in the single digits, but was pleased with the "awesome turnout," with ages anywhere between 3 and 80 in attendance on Friday night.

The families that attended the presentation were offered $50 gift cards from Walmart that were donated by Enactus, Sparks said.

Sparks said that one family in particular stands out in her mind.

Sparks said that when members of Enactus arrived at Main Street Mission, a young father, mother and their 3-year-old son were waiting for dinner, unaware that the seminar was being held that night.  A volunteer helped the group open up the kitchen and serve food to the young family, and they decided to stay until the end of the seminar.

The family also wasn't aware of the $50 Walmart gift card giveaway, Sparks said.

"At the end of the event when they got their gift card, they were so grateful," Sparks said.  "You could see how much it meant to the mother."

Sparks said that the event was very successful.

For more information on the budgeting and nutrition seminar and Enactus, contact Sparks at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , chapter faculty adviser Dr. Linda Bean at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or find them on Facebook at the page "Enactus-ATU."

For more information on Let's Can Hunger, contact Falkenstein at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the project's website at www.letscanhunger.com.

Students interested in finding out more about Main Street Mission can visit its website at www.mainstreetmission.org or find them on Facebook at the page "Main Street Mission."

An ice storm didn’t stop over 50 Tech students from taking part in the first ever Harlem Shake Tech edition video.  While the rest of campus was shutting down before the roads froze on the 20^th, these students braved the weather and gathered in their most creative costumes to take part in the video.

The Harlem Shake videos have gone viral within the past month.  The first video was uploaded to YouTube by five Australian teenagers on February 2^nd.  Since then people from all over the world have been turning out videos daily to keep up with the fad.  The video starts with the song, “Harlem Shake,” by Baauer playing and one solo dancer generally in a mask or Halloween costume dancing.  The people in the room act oblivious to the dancer.  Around the 15 second mark the beat drops, the room transforms, and everyone in the room is dancing while wearing outrageous costumes, uniforms, masks and props.  The videos only last around 30 seconds.

Matt Vu, a junior, Music Major from Ft. Smith used the power of social media to gather the students together for the video.  Vu said a friend told him about the videos, “My friend text me and said Matt you have to do one of these videos at Tech, you have the power to gather people and make this happen.”  Within days Vu had made a Facebook event, had posters up around campus and used twitter to spread the word among campus.  Vu said, “Every time I tweet about the project I will have 20 more re-tweets.”

The video was originally going to be filmed outside but, with the bad weather Vu moved it inside to Doc’s Place.  Vu had a specific plan for the video, “We want people to bring the crazy, that’s our motto.”  The students showed up in a variety of different outfits from Vu sporting a hot dog costume to students in masks, tutus, storm trooper helmets and many more creative get ups.

The video has almost 7,000 views on YouTube and the number is growing each day.  To watch the video you can go to YouTube and search Harlem Shake (Arkansas Tech Original).