STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Joining student government has been one of the greatest blessings I have gotten to be apart of throughout my college career. Not only have I built lifelong friendships during my time, but I have stepped way beyond my comfort zone and have been transformed as a leader.

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During my freshman year of college, fall of 2019, I had made a connection with a guy in one of my business classes named Brian. We had worked together on a group project for about a month throughout the course, but once the semester ended we lost touch due to the pandemic.

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Fast forward to April of 2021, I wake up to a text from Brian one morning. In his message he tells me that he was just voted to be the upcoming student body president and he was looking for people to join his staff and wanted me to apply. During the time I was still assistant managing at Taco Time, but I could not let go of this idea. When I called him to learn more about the positions, the only one that Brian continued to talk about was the Chief of Staff role. I applied the last day the application was open just on a whim, and two days later I officially had the position.

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As Chief of Staff I worked closely alongside Brian and his VP, Alex. We helped make many administrative decisions together to help guide our team. As Chief of Staff, my two main responsibilities were managing the staff of 13 student directors and deputies, along with helping to facilitate purchases and manage the budget. On top of that, I served on three financial committees with other faculty members to provide student input on how to spend student fee dollars. The experience was so enriching and it was an incredible opportunity to be a part of.

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Midway through my term, I felt called to campaign for student body president. It was something I never imagined doing, but I could not deny that God had called me to run. One of my biggest fears has been public speaking in front of large groups of people. The thought of preparing for two debates made my stomach turn in knots. I so badly wanted to ignore this calling and move on, but eventually I put my yes on the table.

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Shortly after that, I found my running mate, Kjelt, and we worked together preparing our campaign for the next two months. We rallied together a campaign team and worked on logos, instagram posts, marketing ideas, and spent hours preparing for the debates. Once the campaign officially started, we spoke in front of greek chapter meetings, clubs, and different organizations on campus to gather support. 

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The experience was harder than I could've ever anticipated. I faced a lot of persecution for being open about my Christian faith. I was publicly called a homophobe in the school newspaper with baseless accusations. However, no matter how hard it got, I continued to fight and I refused to play the same game.

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And guess what? I lost. 

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Although the loss was hard, I would do it all over again even if the outcome remained the same. I had to overcome so many obstacles throughout my campaign and the process was really challenging. There were times I felt highly uncomfortable, but at the end of the day I am stronger now because of those moments.

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After the election, a friend told me losing was the best thing that could've happened to me. And at the time it hurt to hear those words, and it stung to grieve the loss. But I realize he wasn't wrong. Yes, student body president would've been epic. But I'm learning that failure isn't bad, it just shows that you are willing to take risks and learn throughout the process. At the end of the day, I am a more bold and confident leader than I ever could've known. And I am excited to take what I have learned from this experience on my future endeavors.

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