Happy Wednesday, everyone. My name is Khaoula Benghanem. I am a senator for the Class of 2005 and the project leader for ProTroy: Project Troy.
The purpose of this project is to encourage students to venture to downtown Troy more often. After soliciting feedback from students, Troy business owners, and the administration, we found that the best way to make this happen is by focusing on three goals:
1. Improving transportation
2. Creating discount program
3. Increasing student feedback
Currently, shuttles services are limited to campus only. We are looking at starting shuttle buses that go to downtown regularly on weekends. Also, part of this goal is also looking at re-routing some of the current Red Hawk shuttles to cover more areas around campus (i.e. Colonie apartments).
The second goal is implementing different advertising strategies and discount programs in collaboration with business owners to target students. Students will get a mailing of the Troy Business Guide along with a souvenir and an invitation to the Victorian Stroll on Sunday, December 7. Please utilize those guides, they are a great resource for you to get to know downtown Troy more intimately. And attend the Stroll: it is a fun event with lots of people, free food, and entertainment.
The third goal will be implemented through getting student input. Data was, and will still be collected through different methods to accomplish the first two goals. I would like to ask you to to attend the focus groups on December 3 at 3 pm (to sign up, e-mail heffnl@rpi.edu or check out the link on RPInfo). At the group, we will you questions about what matters to you. We will get your data to the Troy business owners and community members.
Please remember: your student government representatives always welcome input. We can’t implement change until we know what needs to be changed. Feel free to contact anyone who you know is involved. You should make it a goal to send feedback or comments to me regularly. I will promise that you will get a response within three days.
The other students that volunteered their time and effort for this project are Mike Banner ’05, Teik Khaw ’06, Hirak Pradhan, Brandon Rudy ’07, Keegan Witt ’07, and Garrett Yaun GRAD. Feel free to contact any of them.
And last but not least: one issue that has been on students’ minds is Phynd. It was brought up at Dr. Jackson’s town meeting and it is a topic I feel that is an important part of the RPI experience: It was developed by an RPI student and has been utilized by many. There will be a discussion about this topic on Tuesday, December 2. Look for the details on the Phynd forum online and next week’s Top Hat. I am interested on getting feedback and your thoughts on what should be done: please drop me a line at benghk2@rpi.edu or through AIM: kooli45. I look forward to hearing from all of you. And remember, there is no place like Troy.
