Brad Crofford, Editor-In-Chief
The university’s Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature (O.I.L.) delegation had a successful session at the Oklahoma State Capitol from April 17-21.
It won third best overall delegation out of twelve universities in attendance. This is significant as this year’s delegation was the smallest from SNU in recent memory with just three members.
For comparison, first place winner Oklahoma State University had fifty students registered to participate at the session. Oral Roberts University took second place.
SNU’s overall achievement was the result of small victories in various areas. Senior Tim Rice returned for his seventh session of O.I.L. His legislation won third best legislation in the House of Representatives, and his efforts won him third best delegation in the House.
Junior Terra Frederick and senior Brad Crofford earned points in the Senate for their frequent service, such as volunteering as secretary and clerking for the President Pro Tempore.
This was Frederick’s second session. She plans to do it again in the fall, stepping up into a leadership role to help SNU return for another successful semester.
In an interview with The Echo, she stressed that participants do not have to be from Oklahoma or be political science majors. Frederick is a missions major from Maine.
“They’re having an overwhelming number of people who are not political science come because they are just interested,” Frederick said. “There are some who want to go to law school or be a senator, but there’s also a lot of people who are like ‘I don’t know how this works. I want to get involved in it.’”
Regardless of one’s major and state of origin, Frederick believes O.I.L. can be a valuable experience.
“It gives you an inside glance at the inner workings of things so that when your senators or representatives go through things, you actually care because you have some understanding of what’s going on,” Frederick said.