LSU Student Government has created a way to bridge the gap between campus and the Baton Rouge community through a brand-new website.
SG launched LSU Local on Feb. 20. The LSU Local initiative seeks to connect University students to the surrounding Baton Rouge community, according to kinesiology senior and SG senior advisor to the president Camille Faircloth. The site serves as a resource for students to find job opportunities, internships, student discounts, restaurants, events and more.
As Faircloth designed LSU Local, she wanted the site to condense community resources from several categories into one, easy-to-use platform.
“I wanted to include everything I wish I knew as a freshman,” Faircloth said.
SG president Jason Badeaux said their goal is for LSU Local to help students pop their “LSU bubble” and become better acclimated in Baton Rouge.
“We hope a platform like this makes LSU feel like more of a home for our students, and whenever they graduate at the end of college, they want to stay in Baton Rouge and continue to better the community,” Badeaux said.
Faircloth said the initiative was introduced under her brother Zack Faircloth’s term as SG president, but lost traction after his graduation. Camille said she has been developing the site for the past year to ensure its introduction before her graduation in May.
“I saw it as something extremely useful not just to freshman, not just to sophomores, but to all students,” Camille said. “This is something that will benefit students for many years to come.”
Student Government partnered with the Olinde Career Center to provide job opportunities and internships and 225 Magazine and Baton Rouge Area Chamber for the blog and Explore Baton Rouge. The LSU Local page highlights seven events, but the site also has a link for students to explore more on 225 and BRAC’s websites.
Director of the Olinde Career Center Jesse Downs said she encourages students to search for jobs and internships early on in their college career to gain a competitive edge. She said LSU Local will be a critical resource in connecting students with these opportunities.
“We hope LSU Local will be a catalyst for students’ career development journey,” Downs said in an email.
LSU Local aims to urge more campus departments to send in their need for on campus employment to the Olinde Career Center and get more businesses in Baton Rouge to offer student discounts, Camille said. Camille said she encourages students to send in any additional businesses with student discounts not listed on LSU Local.
LSU Local highlights notable students, faculty and alumnae with its Featured Tiger blog posts. The current blog post features University alumni who worked to develop The Crawfish App.
Camille said she hopes to add a link for volunteer opportunities as well, and that the website will be updated every Sunday.