Student Government Association President Maha Alshamaileh makes her impact through involvement in class, the community and on campus
Maha Alshamaileh has a packed schedule, to say the least.
The junior psychology major is a top student, research assistant, and certified nursing assistant, seemingly without even breaking a sweat. As of 2025, Alshamaileh is also the president of the Indiana University Northwest Student Government Association (SGA).
“I don’t let myself slack,” she said. “I’m a human and I’ll give myself grace, but I’m on campus at eight every day.”
Alshamaileh spends her days on campus doing everything she can to promote student engagement. When first looking at colleges to attend, an engaging and vibrant community was at the top of her wish list.
“I come from a family-oriented background. I knew I wanted to go to a school that prioritized student engagement and student success,” Alshamaileh said.
With that mindset, she quickly connected with SGA members as a freshman. Alshamaileh came to so many meetings and events that, eventually, she was approached to join.
“The people in SGA before me were great role models,” Alshamaileh said. “I wanted to be like them, and it was easy to follow in their footsteps.”
Alshamaileh is already taking steps to make SGA even better than it was before. Her team is focusing on three key themes for 2025: communication, collaboration and community.
The communication piece is all about getting the word out to students about SGA’s initiatives.
“A lot of college students aren’t great at checking their email,” Alshamaileh said. “So, what social media channels do students interact with most? It’s about finding creative ways to communicate with the entire campus to get the word out.”
Alshamaileh and her fellow SGA members also promote communication through town halls. She hopes to hold these meetings with administrators and faculty members to bridge the gap between leadership and students.
The next part of the plan for a revitalized SGA is collaboration. Specifically, Alshamaileh would love to see more partnership between different schools on campus.
“Students from different schools see each other daily and communicate about their classes,” she said. “We could have a representative from every school to communicate concerns, thoughts, ideas, what’s going wrong and what’s going well.”
Community is the final piece of the puzzle, which includes athletics, campus safety and securing funding for student organizations.
“It’s centered around helping enhance campus life and community engagement,” she said. “It’s what will bring the campus together and have people work toward a common goal.”
In the coming months, SGA has many events planned that fall within one (or more) of these themes. Blood drives, pancake breakfasts and a tentative Relay for Life event are all in the works.
Beyond SGA’s big ideas for the IU Northwest community, Alshamaileh is dedicated to hearing from students who might not be involved in student government by holding weekly office hours.
“Office hours are more private or confidential, a safe space for students to come and talk about concerns, ideas or suggestions,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that, if everyone worked together, we could fix.”
Putting the student in Student Government Association
Alshamaileh has the same 24 hours in a day as the rest of us, but she truly makes the most of her time. When she isn’t working on the latest SGA initiatives and events, she’s researching how stress affects zebrafish through research with Maureen Rutherford, associate professor of psychology.
“It’s really cool, because you see those things in the human brain, too,” Alshamaileh said.
When she graduates next year, Alshamaileh plans to use what she’s learned to pursue a career as a physician assistant. With experience in a hospital already on her resume, she’s ready for a clinical setting.
“Psychology isn’t the traditional route, but it really applies to patient care,” Alshamaileh said. “It helps you narrow down why someone’s acting or feeling the way they are.”
Whether it’s in the research lab or at an SGA meeting, Alshamaileh is more than just involved — she’s finding new ways to get her campus peers engaged. She encourages everyone to find something they’re interested in and make their mark, even if they have to do it alone.
“Don’t wait until you have a friend to do something with,” she said. “I got to the point where if I wanted to do this, it was going to be just me. But in doing that, I built so many friendships.”
While Alshamaileh may have started her time at IU Northwest doing things alone, she now has a significant community behind her. It’s the benefit of having a packed schedule – you can truly make an impact.
