Why are you running for SGA president?
I’ve always been really motivated and I’ve always really just been in love with this campus, and ever since I got on SGA I realized that I can have a major role in what goes on on this campus. I love the students, I love the faculty and I want to improve not only the campus, but the community for everyone. Through VP of Academic Affairs I’ve been able to take what the student voice and the student opinion is and I’ve been able to take it to all my committee meetings for the university committees where they decide what’s going to happen. I’ve really loved that and I realized that as SGA president I could take that even a step further, with their responsibilities, since they sit on the Board of Trustees meetings. I realized that I can actually make a greater difference with this role.
What are your goals if elected president of SGA?
Right now I feel like SGA doesn’t represent 100 percent of the student body. I think there’s a lot of under-represented groups, such as the commuters, the international students, the non-traditional students, and also just part-time students. I’d really like, as president, to work with our VP of PR to get our name out there and also just encourage students just to come to the SGA office with their problems, whether they’re minor or big, so we can hear their voices and actually do something about it. So I’d really like to incorporate more of the student body next year.
Why did you get involved with SGA?
I’ve always considered SGA – I was on student council in high school. I went to a very small high school, and then came to Gannon where we have 3,500-plus students. And I really was interested in student government, but I thought it’s got to be difficult to be voted into one of those nine positions from a group of 3,500 people when I probably only know 100 of those people. I actually met the current SGA president, Angela Coustillac, and she’s the one who encouraged me to get on SGA. I kind of did it not knowing what I was getting myself into, and then when I got into it I was just so lucky. Out of all the clubs and organizations that I’m involved in it’s the one that I’m most proud to be in.
What have you accomplished in your time on SGA so far?
We had a problem last year with getting students at the university committee meetings, so the committee meetings were going on just without any student representatives and without the student voice being heard. So when I got the position of VP of Academic Affairs I kind of revolutionized the system. I put in an incentive program to get more representatives who want to go to committee meetings to want to have a voice a those committee meetings and then report back to SGA with what they did at those meetings. On top of just university committee meetings, we have the excellence in teaching award, which is actually going on right now. You can actually vote for your top 10 teachers this week, and then that will be given out at the faculty awards on April 12. The last thing I’m involved with is the merit scholarship, which is a $1,000 scholarship that’s given to three students from each class each year. I ran the application process and now we’re currently picking the students who are going to win it.
Is there anything else you want the student body to know about you?
I’m sure everybody says this, but I’m really motivated. I’m a task-oriented leader, so I know my goals at hand and I know what I want to accomplish and I know the necessary steps I need to take to accomplish them. At the same time I’m also a socio-emotional type of leader, so I love relationships. I’m a really good listener; I love listening to people’s stories and problems, and I incorporate those into who I am and how I lead as a leader.
