Western Carolina University’s staff senate is selling special ornaments designed and created by staff to fund the Staff Senate Scholarship program.
They had a booth during the Mountain Heritage Day on Saturday, Sept. 30.
Chair of the staff senate, Zachery Williams, described the organization as a collection of WCU staff working with the university to communicate the needs and desires of staff, serving as an advisor to the chancellor. Williams said that the senate is not a union but does “have a seat at the table” for WCU.
The goal of the senate’s fundraising is to fund scholarships for WCU employees and their families to attend classes at WCU. This is an exclusive scholarship available to dependents of WCU staff after one year of employment. Last year the senate raised over $9000 to put towards scholarships.
They will be selling ornaments at a price of $15 for the rest of the semester or until supplies run out. Williams said that there will be another staff senate booth selling them at the Holidays on the Plaza event if they are still available. Each sale of the ornaments directly supports the senate’s scholarship fund.
The design for this year’s ornaments was chosen by committee and was proposed by staff senate member Moxie Brown. Brown explained that the umbrella design represented WCU’s community. In recognition of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the ornament includes both English and the Cherokee word for “community”, SGA DU GI.
If you want more information on the staff senate or a way to donate online, you can visit affiliate.wcu.edu/staffsenate/.
