For all of you who have submitted Bright Ideas this year, thank you. We appreciate your commitment and involvement in improving campus. We have some amazing ideas and some simply stating the desire to have more free food, of course. Nonetheless, we enjoy receiving them.

Because of the large amounts of Bright Ideas, we noticed that we received a lot of ideas that weren't thought out, such as an escalator from the RB to the SWKT, free food or people writing down anything that comes to their heads so they can get a free doughnut. The purpose of Bright Ideas is to collect student opinion of how to feasibly improve campus life.

With that in mind, this semester we decided to change things up. Instead of focusing on quantity of ideas, we focused on quality of ideas. We revamped the Web site (brightideas.byu.edu) and did away with the paper slips. Don't worry, you will still get the free food.

In order to obtain quality ideas, we decided to do a couple of things. First, we created and implemented a Bright Ideas Competition with prizes such as an iPod, iPod clock radio, iTrip, laptop bag, backpack, and new Bright Idea T-shirts. Students are to write a paragraph describing their idea in detail, and explain how it will help students at BYU. Second, we have decided to implement as many feasible Bright Ideas as we can. The results are amazing. The first Bright Idea Competition brought in many ideas that were well thought out, and we are going to research the implementation of many of them.

A quick update on some interesting ideas recently received and implemented. The first-place idea was to have live music out in the quad with music from all genres from Concert Choir to Orchestra to winners of Battle of the Bands. The SAC Council also provided the testing center with an idea regarding the testing center Web site. We suggested to them to show on their Web site what major tests will be going on throughout the week so students could see when there would be heavy traffic. This way students can prepare better for when to take their exams and save time. They don't have to wait until they arrive at the Testing Center to know the conditions. One week after the suggestion was given, it was implemented.

SAC has been researching several important topics to improve campus life. These ideas include Devotional attendance, saving the campus money, being more environmentally safe, campus safety, pedestrian safety. We will continue to research these items.

One research item of particular interest is what is written on your diploma when you graduate. Historically, the diploma only places "Bachelor of Science" or "Bachelor of Arts" and nothing else. It does not state the major. We have been researching what other schools around the nation do and the reasons why BYU does it this way. We are researching student opinion regarding this issue. Once we receive that feedback through surveys, we will present it to the administration.

Thank you for an amazing year full of great Bright Ideas. They really do help, and we actually do look at them and try to implement them. Keep them coming at brightideas@byu.edu

Steele Kizerian is an executive director in the Student Advisory Council.