SSA affiliates and members are doing awesome stuff on their campus all the time. We brag about their work here on our website through the Brag It Up series. If you or your affiliate group has done something awesome, Brag It Up!
Secular Student Alliance at Florida International University tabling next to Catholic Panthers during a debate on reason and religion.
First and foremost, thank you on behalf of the Secular Student Alliance at the University of Central Florida for giving us $250 to send our members to the American Atheists Convention in Austin, Texas. We brought a total of ten people by car and a few flew, and your funds allowed us to be the largest student delegation there. The money was spent towards reimbursements for gas; the members were all responsible for their own registration fee and our allocation from Student Government covered the hotel costs. With your project grant and fundraising we did as a club, we were able to reimburse members most of the cost for gas; the club fronted $150 to both cars and each member taking a car fronted $50. Of the $50 contributions, we were able to give those who donated their cars $45 back, those who took a turn driving $30 back, and the others $15. This, coupled with the registration fee, kept the cost at less than $100 per member for a three day trip to Texas, three nights in a hotel, and three day conference registration.
SSA affiliates and members are doing awesome stuff on their campus all the time. We brag about their work here on our website through the Brag It Up series. If you or your affiliate group has done something awesome, Brag It Up!
Students at West Texas A&M University walking to class on a hot Monday afternoon were met with a particularly unpleasant surprise near the Buffalo statue in the pedestrian mall. A group of evangelists associated with Liberty Baptist Church armed with signs carrying messages such as “The wages of sin are death,” and “You deserve hell,” had set up shop in the middle of WT’s campus and begun loudly preaching to everyone in earshot.
Among the first on the scene was Ashley Farren, a senior WT student and member of the SSA and local Atheist nonprofit Freethought Oasis, who began challenging the proselytizers and demanding to know who they were. After a short while a crowd began to gather and the message was quickly circulated amongst the members of the SSA, “Crazy preachers on campus!”
Our Regional Program has been so successful in its first year that we're adding three new Regional Campus Organizers to start this July. This exciting growth means that we'll be able to provide hands-on, in-person support for more of our affiliate base, including our first regional support on the West Coast! Please help us welcome our new Regional Campus Organizing staff members.
David Fitzgerald, Northern California Region
David Fitzgerald has been called "one of the busiest atheist activists in the Bay Area." In addition to serving on the boards of directors for San Francisco Atheists and Center For Inquiry-SF, he is also the Director/Co-Founder of both the world's first Atheist Film Festival and Evolutionpalooza!, San Francisco's oldest annual Darwin Day celebration. He and Greta Christina are co-founders of Godless Perverts Story Hour. In addition, he is a writer and historical researcher, author of NAILED: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed at All and The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion. (Secretly, he is also a fiction writer under the name Kilt Kilpatrick). He lectures around the country at universities, churches and national secular events, and is a member of the SSA Speakers Bureau.
David will be the Regional Campus Organizer for the Northern California Region.
Jessika Griffin, Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Region
Jessika Griffin is a former President ('12-'13) and Outreach Director ('11-'12) for the Indiana University Bloomington student group, Secular Alliance at Indiana University. This May, she will graduate from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington with a BS in Public Management. Jessika was raised in a somewhat Catholic household and experienced a few years of Catholic school, but never fully accepted religion and spirituality. She has a passion for helping secular students and also enjoys learning about urban planning, bicycle commuting, sustainable farming, and public health.
Jessika will be the Regional Campus Organizer for the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Region.
Ellen Lundgren, Texas Region
Ellen Lundgren plans to graduate this spring from Grand Valley State University in west Michigan with a BFA in Visual Studies and writing minor. She has been a member of the SSA affiliate group on her campus for three years, and was in a leadership role for half that time. She was also a graphic design intern at the national SSA during the summer of 2012. Ellen has attended over half a dozen secular conferences and is passionate about using her skills and creativity to serve the secular movement. In her free time, Ellen does a lot of crafting, crochet, drawing, and recently picked up sewing. She loves going new places and traveling in general.
Ellen will be the Regional Campus Organizer for the Texas Region. She will be replacing our outgoing RCO Kevin Butler, who is headed into the Teach For America program this summer.
David Fitzgerald has been called "one of the busiest atheist activists in the Bay Area." In addition to serving on the boards of directors for San Francisco Atheists and Center For Inquiry-SF, he is also the Director/Co-Founder of both the world's first Atheist Film Festival and Evolutionpalooza!, San Francisco's oldest annual Darwin Day celebration. He and Greta Christina are co-founders of Godless Perverts Story Hour. In addition, he is a writer and historical researcher, author of NAILED: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed at All and The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion. (Secretly, he is also a fiction writer under the name Kilt Kilpatrick). He lectures around the country at universities, churches and national secular events, and is a member of the 
Jessika Griffin is a former President ('12-'13) and Outreach Director ('11-'12) for the Indiana University Bloomington student group, Secular Alliance at Indiana University. This May, she will graduate from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Bloomington with a BS in Public Management. Jessika was raised in a somewhat Catholic household and experienced a few years of Catholic school, but never fully accepted religion and spirituality. She has a passion for helping secular students and also enjoys learning about urban planning, bicycle commuting, sustainable farming, and public health.
Ellen Lundgren plans to graduate this spring from Grand Valley State University in west Michigan with a BFA in Visual Studies and writing minor. She has been a member of the SSA affiliate group on her campus for three years, and was in a leadership role for half that time. She was also a graphic design intern at the national SSA during the summer of 2012. Ellen has attended over half a dozen secular conferences and is passionate about using her skills and creativity to serve the secular movement. In her free time, Ellen does a lot of crafting, crochet, drawing, and recently picked up sewing. She loves going new places and traveling in general.
