Student Government Goes on a D.C. Adventure

The 2025-2026 Student Government Association in Washington D.C.

While many students either returned home or relaxed alone in the dorms during spring break, members of the Bismarck State College Student Government Association got the chance to travel to the United States capital for the annual American Student Association of Community Colleges (ASACC) national student advocacy conference. This was thanks to the funding from the winter survival kits and the Valentines Day kits, which were all sold. 

The conference was a six day event from March 11 through the 16. It featured breakout sessions and roundtable discussions, memorable keynote speakers, and a meeting with North Dakota Senator John Hoeven. There was even time to sightsee at national monuments and museums.

SGA made its departure from the Bismarck airport in the early afternoon of March 11.fter a long and tiresome day of traveling, SGA senator El Jay Dugenio brightened the mood and started the trip off right with a facetious comment that was sure to make everybody laugh.

“Goodbye America, hello D.C.” Dugenio said as the plane touched down on the airport runway.

The morning after their arrival at the capital building, the group was given a tour and checked out the library of congress. After that, they got the chance to meet with ND Senator John Hoeven. All SGA members were present for the meeting, and they discussed with him and his assistant a few interesting topics relating to SGA and the North Dakota Student Association as they prepared their list of top priorities for the 2025/26 academic year. Such topics include mental health, on-campus housing, and food accessibility options for college students.

The ASACC conference gave SGA members a chance to meet other Student Government members from different colleges across the nation. Networking with SGA members from California or Texas helped members share ideas about student government. BSC SGA members realized that BSC has a relatively low cost of tuition combined with other things that most community colleges don’t have, like on-campus housing and athletics programs in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Which is why, after three years of involvement in ASACC, BSC is joining the American Student Government Association next year. The ASGA is more central to the U.S. and will better suit the needs of BSC’s growing campus and population.

The next couple of days were packed with activities. The mornings routinely consisted of breakout sessions where they got a chance to connect with members from other schools and discuss differing perspectives. The sessions also consisted of listening to keynote speakers like Chris Molina, an award winning leadership speaker who gave a presentation on how to deal with the stress of taking on new ideas. BSC’s SGA also planned and hosted karaoke on the third day.

There was also plenty of time for sightseeing and exploring what D.C. had to offer. The group visited the Holocaust museum and competed with each other in an online scavenger hunt in Georgetown that was centered around its rich history of World War II and Cold War spies. The girls team ended up winning the scavenger hunt by two minutes.

The group also visited the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex, and the air and space museum along with the Korean art museum. 

Paysha Rex, the SGA President, brought her camera along to the botanical gardens and took photos. Photos were also taken of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial after sunset too.

In all, the trip was filled with a lot of firsts. It was Secretary Logan Fix’s first time on an airplane, Rex tried Raising Cane’s for the first time, and for many members, it was their first time in D.C. 

“I give the trip a ten out of ten overall,” Rex said.

Now that the SGA members have returned, they will be applying the many things they learned at the conference to prepare for upcoming events, including the NDSA conference in the ATC and the BSC spring carnival. Although their D.C. adventure was full of nonstop activities and gave them a lot to look back on, the BSC community’s continual growth and maturation from a junior college to what it is today will give plenty more to look forward to for future SGA members.