Column by Ryan Smith

It’s hard to believe that it’s already October. It seems like fall football weather has finally caught up to us this week, as well as the return of the wind tunnel around POT.

I hope everyone’s first couple rounds of exams have gone well so far as we work our way into the semester. I know campus has been crazy the past few weeks with all that has been going on, but now that fall has fully arrived, time is going to fly faster than ever.

First off, I’d like to personally thank all of you who showed up last Tuesday for the march on City Hall during the housing proposal discussion.

Standing up for your rights as students and coming together as one for a common good spoke volumes to the City Council members and committees. The weather wasn’t ideal, and you were still willing to take the hike downtown, which was amazing. So, thank you for your support.

If you haven’t already circled it on your calendars, the opening weekend of Keeneland is right around the corner.

Horse racing has always been a major part of Kentucky history, and this year Student Government would like to give everyone a chance to experience why it plays such a huge role in defining Kentuckians.

We know that not everyone has a means of getting around Lexington, so on Oct. 9 (College Scholarship Day) and 10, SG will fund two buses each day to charter students to and from Keeneland at no cost.

The buses will leave from the flag plaza in front of Memorial Coliseum at two separate time intervals and return as the races come to a close.

So if you’ve never been to Keeneland, or you just want to hang out with friends and have a chance at winning a scholarship, plan to join us on the buses.

This past Tuesday, student organizations had another chance to get their name out there and recruit as SG and the Office of Student Involvement hosted an involvement reception. We had 84 clubs sign up for the event, with two members  from each club present to give a short speech about what each club offers and does around campus. It was great to see so many people out and involved, and we hope you’ll continue to make that push to find your calling on campus.

Our office, as well as the Office of Student Involvement, is always willing to help get students and student organizations involved on campus, so please don’t hesitate to stop by.

The Academic and Student Affairs Senate Committee also met last week to review the childcare grant applications. Our No. 1 priority is to help the students in any way possible, and we are happy to be able to award $6,500 to 11 families.

There will be another chance to receive a grant in the spring, so be sure to watch our Web site or stop by the office to ask when the next application will be available.

It has been great to see the number of people out at TallyCats events across campus. With September wrapping up, the first round of prizes will be given out next week as we award the top TallyCats attendees.

Thanks to our sponsors we have some awesome prizes to give away, from GPS systems to basketball tickets to football tickets and transportation down to the UK/Vandy game, and many more.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out many of the events this month, remember that we are awarding top point winners for each individual month, as well as overall top points at the end of the semester, so there are still plenty of chances to get involved. In fact, we have three events left this week: “The Color of Water: Mediation on Identity” with author James McBride, the women’s soccer game versus Georgia on Friday and the women’s soccer game versus Tennessee on Sunday.

It’s an exciting time of the year, not only on the weekends with the heart of the football season approaching and Keeneland right around the corner, but in the heart of campus as well.

Freshman Senate elections are two weeks away, the DanceBlue team deadline is approaching and student organizations across campus are in full swing. I hope to see you all taking full advantage of all that’s going on around us.