Although the academic year is halfway through, Mercyhurst Student Government (MSG) is still hard at work on projects for the rest of the year.

One of the biggest projects underway is Project Kenya, a fundraising effort to send Mercyhurst student Anthony “Juma” Khisa to Kenya to reunite with his daughter. The project is a collaboration between MSG and the school and is raising funds to pay for his daughter’s high school education since the cost of schooling in Kenya is very expensive.

According to MSG Vice-president Brian Lombardo, “This is a community effort. Both the students and the Mercyhurst administration are coming together to raise $3,000 for Project Kenya.”

To achieve this, MSG will be selling Project Kenya bracelets for a dollar.

They will also be hosting a fundraising dinner at Egan Dining Hall on Friday, March 8, with local band The Romantic Era slated to perform.

Tickets will go on sale at the end of the month by MSG Senators.

Another event has been set on the winter forum to be hosted on Wednesday, Jan. 23, focused solely on the switch to the 4-1-4 academic system.

Faculty Senate President Michael Federici, Ph.D., and Chair of the Academic Policies Committee Verna Ehret, Ph.D., will be present at the event to answer any questions students may have about the new format.

In regards to how they are improving from the fall forum held last term, MSG President Richard Molloy said, “We’re putting the spotlight only on the switch to 4-1-4. We’re doing more PR than we did for our fall forum and we scheduled it later during the day so more people can attend.”

With only two months remaining in office for Molloy and Lombardo, efforts have been elevated to make the transition process for the succeeding student government to be easier.

Planning for the annual Spring Fest celebration has also begun and MSG is constantly brainstorming activities while keeping the theme of Laker spirit at heart.

“It’s going to be a long process, but we definitely started with the right foot. We sold over 3,000 of our spirit shirts and giving away spirit towels at hockey, wrestling and basketball games,” Lombardo said about their spirit campaign.

“Spirit isn’t necessarily just going to a sports game. We had the upperclassmen barbecue at the beginning of the year,” Molloy added. “We’re launching a spirit shirt design contest in the spring to get students involved in the creation of the spirit shirt for next year, which we hope becomes a tradition for the school.”