Student Body President Bobby Mills entered office at the end of the last spring semester, and with the help of fellow student government officials and the administration, he has began work on some of his campaign promises.

Mills, who took the grassroots approach during his campaign, said he is still continuing to seek out student interaction whenever possible.

“The grassroots approach is just part of my personality,” he said.

Mills said it’s obvious from his goals as student body president that his focus is helping out as many students as possible.

“I focus on campus services, things that students see,” he said.

Mills said by continuing with former Student Body President Will Quick’s goal to get tailgating hours extended, he was able to get hours extended from four hours to five hours.

“I don’t think any of these initiatives you could say ‘I did this,’ it’s a we thing,” he said. “Thanks to the good leadership from last year, I was able to keep running with that.”

According to Mills, Quick actually drew up the plans for the WITH program, which Mills has helped implement this year.

“It’s going well, I know we have a lot of support,” he said.

Mills said he is still working on the promise made during his campaign to install debit card machines on campus. He said he is soon meeting with Randy Lait, University Dining business officer, to hopefully finalize the machines.

“All the machines are in the West Dunn building, ready to be set up,” Mills said.

According to Mills, University Dining is also finalizing what changes will be made to dining hall hours for the next academic year.

David Foxx, student body treasurer, said Mills’ unique energy definitely brings a new approach and view to Student Government.

“[He has] tried to get more students involved,” he said. “[He is] making Student Government more visible.”

Greg Doucette, Student Senate president, echoed Foxx’s statement.

“He’s bringing a passion to the position that maybe was not there previously,” Doucette, a senior in computer science, said.

Doucettte said Mills’ energy could either make or break him.

“A lot of it comes down to whether he can maintain the level of energy he has had so far,” he said.

He said while most Student Government officials are full of energy in April when elections are concluded and that excitement lasts through August and October, once winter break rolls around, it can waver.

“[But] if Bobby can keep his level of energy going and keep his cabinet members interested, he should be fine,” Doucette said.

According to Doucette, Mills’ cabinet includes an increase of freshmen compared to years past.

“Hopefully these same folks will stick around for years to come and provide some better continuity [in Student Government],” he said.

Foxx said Mills isn’t as connected to the Student Senate as past SBPs have been.

“He [thinks] Senate is too bogged down with the rules,” he said.

There hasn’t been a SBP quite as much of a students’ president as Mills since Tony Caravano, Foxx said.

“He has really gone out of his way to say that ‘I’m a student just like you guys, what are your issues, how can I best work on behalf of that,'” Foxx said.