Benjamin Vitale, SGA President, in his final SGA meeting
Photo courtesy of Chris Doody
BY: CHRIS DOODY, CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Student Government Association (SGA) President Benjamin Vitale, a senior public health major, adjourned his last SGA meeting at St. Bonaventure University on March 25, 2026.
Vitale has served as a part of SGA since the end of his freshman year.
“I started as class vice president,” said Vitale. “Then I moved up to executive vice president; this year, I have moved up to serve as president.”
Vitale said he had never thought about running for SGA or being a part of a student government until the end of his freshman year at Bonaventure.
“Somebody asked me to run with them,” said Vitale. “I said, ‘yes,’ so going into it I didn’t really know what to expect.”
Vitale said he found talking to his peers was the best way to make things happen.
“One of my goals at the start was to just represent my peers,” said Vitale. “Finding out what they wanted over myself was important to me. I talked to a lot of people in my class about it and what direction that they wanted us to take.”
Over the past two years, the SGA has been working with Dr. Jeff Gingerich, president of St. Bonaventure University, on adding a community space on the east side of campus.
“I’m most proud of designing and lobbying for an east campus community space,” said Vitale. “I started on it last year with the executive board working with Dr. Gingerich to come up with a mockup of what it could be. It will be kind of a park situation in front of Francis Hall.”
The project is going to be implemented in phases.
“It’s happening,” said Vitale. “We’ve raised a significant amount of money for the project.”
Vitale said there are so many people involved in SGA and a lot of things can happen out of nowhere.
“There are so many moving pieces and so many things that can switch up at the last minute and knock plans out,” said Vitale. “But luckily, we have a pretty dynamic team and we’re able to do the best with what we have sometimes.”
Vitale said he would tell undergraduate students to take advantage of everything you can.
“You don’t really have much time here, so you want to make the most of it,” said Vitale. “Taking the most out of every opportunity is how you can be best prepared to graduate, but at the same time, just have a good time here. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy getting to know the community, meeting people and being with the people you like.”
Vitale said that being a part of SGA has helped prepare him for the workforce.
“After graduation, I plan on entering the workforce,” said Vitale. “SGA has given me a lot of skills necessary for being productive and it has also given me valuable life skills.”
Vitale concluded his final SGA meeting by thanking other students that are a part of SGA for everything that they have done and multiple committees for the progress that they have made this year.
