What is your Aggie story?
My dad was an Aggie. He was the 12th Man actually on the football game here, so growing up, me and my siblings were always at Aggieland every Saturday and I fell in love with this place. He always talked about the Aggie Spirit and what it meant to him. I know I had to come experience it for myself, and it hasn’t disappointed me since.
What organizations are you involved with?
Currently, I’m a member of Aggie Men’s Club where last year I served as the fellowship chair. I’m also part of Maroon Coats as a member, and I got to spend some time with the Abbott Family Leadership Conference as a delegate as well.
Why are you running for student body president, and why do you think you’re qualified for this position?
I’m running for student body president because I genuinely love A&M so much, and in high school, I wasn’t the most talented guy. You could consider me a nerd who didn’t have a lot of friends. When I got to A&M, it really put me on my feet and put me in a place where I was able to lead and selflessly serve others, and I’m forever indebted to A&M for that. A&M is also unlike any other place I’ve ever been to. I think that A&M is a league of its own. The tradition that it has sets it apart. The Core Values that we have here makes me passionate to serve and give back to the university that I love so well. I think it’s obvious that I’m not the most qualified on-paper candidate. I don’t have any student government experience here. What I lack in experience, I gain in genuine passion and love for A&M and a willingness to serve back.
What is your campaign platform?
I took the time to get other people’s thoughts and opinions on paper. This platform isn’t something that me and my team in a different side of campus put out and made. It’s a collection of thoughts from all different sides of campus. It’s broken down into advancing student connection, amplifying student experience, and advocating. Student wellbeing is a big one we’re going to improve. Student interconnectedness is another thing and also the student experience. Making it easier and better for students. It all facets into platforms practical and inclusive.
It’s broken down into three main categories. The first one is advancing student connection. We’re seeking to create a campus that’s interconnected and feels closer. Obviously, Texas A&M is growing, and with a growing university, there tends to be an idea or thought process that your culture can kind of spread thin and tradition can kind of spread thin. What we wanna do is maintain tradition, and the great thing is Aggies love about tradition. One way we want to do this is by making an app that students can have. The point of this would be to have events like Aggie Muster, Bonfire, Silver Taps and different events, and every student would have it and be on the same page about different events going on at Texas A&M.
The student experience is second. There’s different things that I’ve heard like “How can we make student life better?” How can we make it easier? The big thing was course material scholarships. Something that’s huge is that there tends to be large amounts that you would have to pay for homeworks, tests and quizzes. If it gets to a certain amount, you would get the rest free because that’s a lot of money to pay for books on top of tuition. Another thing is virtual IDs and sports passes. I would be moving this forward.
Lastly, student well-being is something I’m most passionate about. I think it breaks my heart when I think about the last two Silver Taps ceremonies that we’ve had as we’ve lost three out of the four aggies due to mental health. I think increasing awareness and resources for those battling mental health are extremely important to me in my campaign. We had this idea for a free Lyft ride system in which students would get $20 free a semester to mitigate drunk driving. Lastly, Northgate safe zones. They would act as a place or refuge where students who feel unsafe or are in a sketchy situation can go with police and get well and make it home safely.
Campaign slogan
Lead with Luke
Why do you think students should vote for you?
I think students should vote for me because I bring a different view to the student body president role. I think in a lot of situations there tends to be a disconnect from student government here and actual student life. Student government can seem as off in a distance and there might be questions of “What does SGA actually do?” I was one of those students. I’m not involved in SGA, and I never have been. I do recognize that they do great things. I want to be the candidate that bridges the gap between them and do great things for the campus. I realize I’m not your typical candidate, but I think we have a really, really cool opportunity to do something new to give students a voice and a seat at the table to make sure I can be a voice for them to see things they want changed on campus being brought to the table and actually be changed.
If you could hang out with any former student, who would it be and why?
It would have to be Johnny Manziel. After watching his documentary I have so many questions, so it would be Johnny Manziel.
