A good idea demands an even bigger sequel. On February 24, the second Northeast Student Government Summit will bring together nearly 200 student government representatives from 20 schools across the region — more than double the number at last year’s inaugural Summit. Organized by the Bryant Student Government Association with support from the university’s Office of Student Affairs and the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Rhode Island, the Summit will help this ambitious group hone their leadership skills, share ideas, and make important connections.
The Summit’s rapid grown, notes Luke Lamontagne ’24, Bryant University Student Government Association President and lead organizer of the Summit, will bring the university’s Innovation Forum to capacity and posed a whole new set of logistics challenges — and he couldn’t be happier. “I think it's really important for every single one of us at the conference to learn from as many different perspectives as possible,” says Lamontagne.
Being a member of student government brings with it a special responsibility, he notes, and involves representing a diverse student body on topics ranging from dining to academics to campus safety. Therefore, it only makes sense to build a network of support, and alternate viewpoints, that is as wide as possible.
“We have representatives from so many different types of schools coming — big schools and smaller schools, schools from different regions, and schools with different specialties,” says Lamontagne. “They all have different challenges and ways of doing things, but they all have the same goal: Make the college experience for the students at their schools the best it possibly can be.”
“This is about building your confidence, developing your problem-solving and empathy skills, and learning how to speak up and use your voice to make a difference."
Lamontagne has seen the value of the Summit’s networking opportunities firsthand. At last year’s event, which was held just before the start of his term as president, he connected with Bentley’s incoming student government president and the two have been in contact ever since, comparing notes and procedures, discussing their experiences, and leaning on each other for advice throughout their administrations.
The Summit will also help the attendees hone their craft. Ten different breakout sessions and workshops — nearly all of which will be led by Bryant faculty, staff, and student government officials — will focus on topics ranging from potential careers in government, representation, and advocacy to the specific challenges facing women in leadership roles to examining different leadership styles.
The skills the breakout sessions are focusing on, Lamontagne says, aren’t just valuable for student government, they’re key for taking the reins of leadership post-graduation — wherever their disparate paths might take the attendees. “This is about building your confidence, developing your problem-solving and empathy skills, and learning how to speak up and use your voice to make a difference,” he says.
But tools without purpose are ultimately useless, and the Summit aims to assist with that as well. Robert Massoud, lecturer of Management at Bryant University, coordinator for the university’s Team and Project Management program, and a past president of the Ocean State chapter of the Project Management Institute, will deliver the keynote address, “What Does Leadership Mean to Me?”
“Bryant students want to lead. We’re always looking at ‘What can we do better? What can we improve on? How can we expand on something?’”
The talk is especially relevant to this year’s Summit, which was organized under the theme, “Why student government?” notes Lamontagne. One of the goals of the day, he says, is to help the representatives connect with, and strengthen, their passion for serving others. “We want attendees to make connections and bounce ideas off each other,” says Lamontagne. “But we also want them to reflect on what drives them, because that will help them make the greatest impact.”
That focus on building a better future, he notes, is a defining force at Bryant, and one of the reasons the university is an ideal host for the conference. “Bryant students want to lead,” Lamontagne muses, noting that the school’s student government was recently ranked among the 12 most active in the country by the Princeton Review in their 2024 The Best 389 Colleges guide. “We’re always looking at ‘What can we do better? What can we improve on? How can we expand ourselves?’”
Just look at the Summit’s origins, he suggests. “This all started because our former Student Government Association president, Zachary Zambarano, who is returning to lead a breakout session this year, was looking for a conference like this to attend. He couldn’t find one, so he made his own.”
Zambarano’s ambitious idea has now grown by leaps and bounds and offers the organizers the chance to make a difference far beyond Bryant’s campus, Lamontagne says. Attendees will take what they’ve learned home with them and use it to help maximize the experience for students at their own schools — impacting the lives of countless other young adults.
Lamontagne is impressed with how much the Summit has grown in just one year, he admits, but, like all good leaders, he’s already looking forward to the future and how it might have an even greater reach. Soon, Lamontagne muses, it might even outgrow the “Northeast” portion of its title.
They’re going to need a bigger room.
