The Battalion sat down with the nine student body president candidates to discuss why they’re running for the position, as well as their campaign focuses. Candidate interviews, and corresponding transcriptions, are ordered alphabetically, by last name.
VICTOR FERRO
Mechanical engineering junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Victor Ferro.
Introduction
Howdy, my name is Victor Ferro. I’m a mechanical engineering student from Caracas, Venezuela, and Class of 2023.
What organizations are you involved with?
Currently I’m a constituency affairs chair for the Student Senate and I’m a senator for the College of Engineering as well. Over the past year, I’ve been working toward advocating for more resources for the College of Engineering, representing students, voicing their concerns to administration. That way we can get those needs that the students have fulfilled, working for them to make sure that they have the best four years here.
Aggie story
My Aggie story is really interesting. When I moved from Venezuela in 2016, I went to Miami. I finished my high school in Miami and because I was living in Miami, my first school that was in mind was the University of Florida.
I didn’t know about A&M then, but thankfully I have family in Houston, so they recommended me to apply to A&M. It was my first time hearing about the school, so I sent my application. A couple of months later, I received that I was accepted, so I was excited, but I didn’t know what A&M was itself. I started researching and the more I researched about the school, the more I fell in love with it.
When I got here to campus on my moving day, I just completely fell in love with it, with traditions, with the camaraderie that you see around campus, just stepping up here to campus, coming from a completely different state, a different country.
I get here with my family and before I get out of my car, a couple of students just walked toward me like, “Howdy, let me help you with that,” and they started grabbing my stuff and took it all the way to my room without me knowing them, without me asking them for help. Since that day and every day after, I just keep falling in love more and more with this university, and every day it reaffirms that this is a place for me and this is a place that I want to be.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan is “First with Ferro,” because I believe that the students should be the priority of the university.
Students should be put first when making decisions because, at the end of the day, without the students, we wouldn’t have this amazing place.
Platform
My goal is simple. My goal is to put students first. I have created a platform with input from students from student leaders that I’ve had the honor to get to meet throughout the past three years on campus, so that platform is something that I, if I get it, I will actually be able to deliver because that’s something I really put a lot of focus on. A lot of people come here and make these big promises, but at the end of the day they are not achievable. But because I know the process behind the student government, I know what can and cannot be done.
My goal is putting students first. How do we do this? I have a platform with three pillars: community access, inclusion and infrastructure.
I believe that by making sure the community around the students is good, we’re going to have the students that are going to be successful. I believe that if we make sure that every student has access and feels included here at A&M, that they feel that they have a place here at A&M, we’re going to have a successful student body. I believe that if we have an infrastructure around the students on campus that truly represents what it means to be an Aggie and [by] provid[ing] all the basic needs for students, we’re going to have successful students.
How we’re going to achieve this is by making sure that certain organizations remain independent. Student organizations are something that is key for the student involvement and developing as a person, and as the future leaders. If we take this away from students, our development process is going to be really in danger, so as student body president, I will work with administration to make sure there is a structure that protects students from administration oversight. But, outside [of A&M], I will work and advocate at the legislation in Austin for more student rights. I plan to make sure that we bring back the Period Project to have free menstrual products on campus for students. I want to make sure that students are put first by making sure that they have access to free menstrual products on campus, so I want to reinvigorate the Period Project, and I want to create a fund to permanently maintain that project throughout the years, regardless of who’s in office.
I want to make sure that the infrastructure around the students are good. I want to make sure that bus stops are in a good state. There are places on campus that are high-traffic bus stops, but there’s not an actual, physical bus stop. We all know that here in College Station, it rains a lot, so whenever that happens, students are sitting in the rain waiting for the bus, or there are some other bus stops that are super small and the amount of students could fit another bus stop, so I want to change that also. Also, I want to make sure that students’ safety is a priority here on campus. Sadly, last year we had a couple of incidents where student safety, where students were in danger. As student body president, one of my goals is to make sure this doesn’t happen again. That’s why, if elected, I’ll work with the Office of Residence Life to make sure that we have cameras in key places to prevent these incidents [from] happen[ing] again.
Another passion of mine is violence prevention. Over my time in Senate, I work[ed] with the Office of Health Promotions and the [Student Organization Development and Administration] Office to develop training for student leaders so they are better prepared to make sure the environment around their members is safe. I want to make sure that this training is taken by all student leaders, so that way we know that certain organizations are going to have a safe environment for our students to be able to grow and develop.
Another one of my projects is mental health. If we’re going to put students first, we need to make sure that they are healthy, they are good. The College of Engineering is the only college on campus that has a part-time counselor on their facilities. Why is that? Why not every single college? As student body president, I plan to work so we [have] a part-time counselor in every single college on campus. Because this is something that students, if they’re going to take a test there or they’re dealing with the stress of classes, they can just go inside their own college to talk with somebody without the need to go all the way to CAPS. Also if they need an appointment, they’re not going to need to wait three to four weeks for an appointment. If we implement this, I believe that that also is going to decrease the waiting time in CAPS because the students who need to go and talk once with a counselor, they wouldn’t be in the line for three to four weeks, so that will leave some space free for students that need to have more than just one [session].
These are a few of my projects that I want to implement to make sure that you, the students, are [put] first whenever the university is [making] decisions and you, the students, are [put] first because that’s how we’re going to make sure that this university keeps being amazing.
Elevator pitch
My platform is simple. I want to put the students first. I want to put you first because, at the end of the day, students are the core of this institution, the core of this university. If we don’t put students first, we’re not going to get anywhere. That’s why I’m running for student body president — to make sure that every single student has a place here on campus [to] find [themselves], their home away from home, to make sure that every student feel[s] supported. How we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this with my three-point platform: through community access and inclusion and infrastructure.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I feel I’m qualified for student body president because over the past three years, I’ve been super involved with student government. I started in one of their committees, as a member of the Aggie Recruitment Committee where we hosted high school juniors and seniors here at A&M, so we can introduce them for a whole weekend to the experience. They’d sleep at the dorms. I would take [them] to a football game, so they can experience what it is to be an Aggie for a weekend, to help them make the decision.
From that, I transitioned to the legislative side of student government, because I got elected as senator for the College of Engineering. There I learn[ed], “What are the true needs of the students? What are the things that they’re missing? What are the things that are lacking here on campus?”
During my junior year I also got reelected as a student senator, but I also was chosen by the Student Senate to serve as constituency affairs chair. In this role, my main responsibility was to connect with students, with student organizations, talk with them and see what’s going on in their world, how the student government can serve them better. And with that information, I will bring it back to the Student Senate to make change, to create that change that student[s] need and advocate to administration. In that interaction going back and forth between the students and the Student Senate, I’ve learned what are the true needs of students. I also learn[ed] how to accomplish the change here at the university, how to interact with their situation and how to create positive change. Through these experiences, I feel that that gives me the qualifications necessary to be a successful student body president that will be able to provide what’s best for students and be able to represent them in the best way possible.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
If there’s something that I love to do, it’s to dance. I love to dance salsa and merengue, other Latin dances. That’s kind of my hidden talent, if you know me. If you see me at any Latin party here on campus, you will see me dancing for sure. It’s something [that’s] a passion of mine that I’ve learned since I was little. My grandma and my mom, they taught me how to dance [from] a young age. I think since I was seven or six, that’s something I love to do.
CASE HARRIS
Finance junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Case Harris.
Introduction
My name is Case Harris, I’m a finance major from Austin, and I am running for student body president, and I’m a proud member of the Class of 2023.
What organizations are you involved with?
I’m involved in a group called Aggie Men’s Club, it’s a men’s organization here, and I have been involved in a lot in the past three years here at A&M and have been involved in some different organizations in the Mays Business School, like as a peer leader or on Business Honors Recruitment. Then, also been involved in [Gilbert Leadership Conference], as a delegate as a freshman, and this past fall as the program’s director, and also did a FLO called Fish Aides and then MSC Abbott. So, different involvements throughout campus, but have kind of stopped all that to focus on this.
Aggie story
My story really kind of goes back to when I was an incoming student here at Texas A&M. My mom was an Aggie. For us, familiar with A&M, I’ve been to Kyle Field a few times, visited campus a few times, but didn’t really know what Texas A&M [was] like, actually what being an Aggie was. I got here when I was a freshman in 2019, fast forward and just hit the ground running, absolutely loved it from the start. Got involved in campus and incredible organizations, met incredible community, and I guess this place has felt so different than anything I’ve ever seen before and over the course of my first semester here, and it really went from being something I was familiar with to my home. I’ve been thinking a lot lately, “What make[s] Texas A&M so special and so different from every other university?” I really think it’s our culture and the spirit that we have here. I love it, that A&M is able to incorporate students from all different backgrounds and histories and we’re all just able to come here and be united by our traditions and by our Core Values, and just the Aggie Spirit — that’s really what happened to me and that’s what allowed me to thrive here and that’s why I love this place.
Campaign slogan
My campaign is “Count on Case.” We were deciding between two, Count on Case and Howdy with Harris. When it came down to it, Count on Case just made more sense than Howdy with Harris. But, also we just liked Count on Case. I want to be somebody that’s reliable and trustworthy and that’s going to fight for the students and represent the students in any way that I can. I think that Count on Case just signifies that message very well.
Platform
Our first major platform point is unity through tradition, so that was really important to me because I believe that our traditions and our spirit here at Texas A&M is what unites us, and what is able to include all students and make us all at home here. So, that one is really important to me. I think as Texas A&M continues to grow and gets bigger and is more prestigious like that, I think that it’s so key that we don’t lose the heartbeat of this place and that’s our tradition, that’s our Aggie Spirit. So, a few practical ways we want to implement that is one, there’s a new course that all freshmen have to take called Hullabaloo U, and we want to implement some tradition and Aggie Spirit training into [the] course just to spread awareness. Then, also one of the big things is we want to educate [professors] on the Aggie spirit and on traditions, and that they can then tell their students, “Hey, we have Silver Taps on Tuesday,” or, “We have Muster on this day,” so that the students are more in the loop and aware of when these traditions are happening. Then the last one under that point is just creating some inspirational and fun videos with the Yell Leaders, or maybe athletes or just influential people on campus to just spread awareness for our traditions. So, that’s platform point No. 1.
The next one is connecting students to new possibilities. So, that one is all about … there’s so many resources and opportunities here at A&M, there’s just an endless number of things that we have access to. You name it, we have it, but I’ve also seen in my time here there’s a little gap that we need to bridge. There’s a lot of students that don’t know how to find the opportunities. So, we want to bridge this gap. A couple of things we can do there is we want to revamp and kind of clean up the Maroon Link website, which displays all of the organizations here at Texas A&M, and we want to make that really user-friendly, where you can apply filters and find what groups you might want to join. Another thing we want to do is revamp this website we found called Aggie Serve, it really looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2005. I don’t think it has, but the idea is really cool. It’s supposed to connect any student at A&M with any service opportunity that’s going on in Bryan-College Station, and service is a great way to get plugged in. Obviously, serving our community is a great thing. We want to revamp that website, similar to Maroon Link, and make it really user-friendly, get students plugged in there. Our last one is we want to provide more funding to the Aggie and Mentor Program, which is a new SGA committee and it basically connects former Aggies with current students and helps former Aggies to mentor the students throughout the college process. That’s what we want to do there as well.
The third point is advocating for the support students need, so the idea here is just like the little things that actually make a big difference. A few that I will touch on: increasing mental health awareness on campus and providing more resources. We want to try to create a walk-in counseling program, in-person counseling program, where students can walk in at any point during the day, they receive counseling if they need it. Also, we have gotten short-term counseling programs here, but we need more long-term counseling programs for mental health. Another thing we want to do is increase sexual assault prevention. We need to basically make the blue light system better, we need more security cameras for lighting. There are some really dark places on campus, and we need to make sure that every corner of campus is safe. Then, we also want to grow the open resource textbook program that provides free textbook access to students — that’s one I think we can all get behind.
Then the last one is trying to make the parking situation better here at A&M. We have all had terrible experiences with parking situations at A&M. We can do things like trying to lower the parking price or say something like after 9 p.m. parking is free, so I really want to work with administration to make parking a little more feasible for students.
Elevator pitch
My three main plot points starting with No. 1 is unity through tradition. I think that it is so key that we just keep alive the heartbeat of this place. It’s what unites all students. We want to increase unity through tradition, and we have tangible ways we’re going to do that. No. 2 would be connecting Aggies to possibilities, and like I said, there’s so many opportunities available at Texas A&M, but there’s a little bit of a gap we need to bridge because a lot of students don’t know how to find those resources. The third thing is to support student needs, that’s the little things that make a big difference at the end of the day. We want to increase mental health awareness, sexual assault prevention program and grow the open resource textbook program and work with parking to decrease parking prices.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I know this is kind of a known thing, but I’m not an SGA candidate. I’ve been involved a little bit with SGA through GLC, which is a committee of Fish Aides, but I haven’t been a senator or really in the weeds of SGA. I believe that I’ve had so much experience just around the whole campus — I’ve been involved in the MSC, a little bit though SGA and a mentor organization and Mays Business Schools. I feel that it’s given me such a good feel of the heartbeat of students and what students believe and think. At the end of the day, the job of the student body president is terrific, and I am so willing and capable of fighting for students. I am a huge believer in our student body, and I want to do everything I can to fight for them and do what is needed to stand up to people on behalf of students. I’ve also been able to have a leadership role in those organizations.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
This is a little bit weird, but I’m a really good laser tag player. Every time I’ve gone, I don’t think I’ve ever lost. I’m always at the top of the board, not to brag, but I really, really enjoy it and go hard in laser tag, not something I advertise, but I guess it’s a hidden talent.
MEGHAN HEIN
Agricultural economics junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Meghan Hein.
Introduction
Howdy! My name is Megan Hein and I’m a junior agricultural economics major from Sealey, and I’m so excited to be throwing my hat into the race for student body president.
What organizations are you involved with?
I’ve had a really diverse experience here at Texas A&M. I started off my freshman year being involved in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council, which I truly think is where it all began. I was in the Freshman Leadership Experience, as well as [became] a student senator. I’ve held my position as a student senator for the past three sessions, as well as some involvements with the MSC Spencer Leadership Conference and many other positions on campus, but I feel like those are the most impactful I’ve had here on campus.
Aggie story
Being a first-generation college student, when I was going into high school, my sister had just actually graduated high school and she was off to a junior college, and hearing about her experiences going to a junior college, it sounded like a lot of fun, but I knew that’s not the route I wanted to go, especially with all of the transitions. So, I was dead set on being a Texas Tech Raider. I remember going to the A&M-LSU game, and that was my first taste of being an Aggie, and there was just something that sparked inside of me that I knew I couldn’t pass up. I held on to being a Raider for a little bit longer, but I knew on decision day, May 1, that there is no way that I cannot be a Texas A&M Aggie, so I withdrew from Texas Tech and started to dream about coming to Aggieland and made it a reality. Ever since then, I knew I’ve made the right decision because I wouldn’t be sitting here in this chair today if I hadn’t.
Campaign slogan
When formulating my campaign, I knew I wanted to keep my outgoing personality at the forefront of the campaign. So, we decided on the slogan “Shine with Hein,” because we really think it symbolizes what I want to do as student body president here on campus, and that’s to make Texas A&M glow through policy points of growth, leadership, opportunity and well-being, which we think are the four most important aspects of student life here on campus.
Platform
Going more into depth of each point of my platform with growth, we really wanted to highlight not only keeping up with the influx of Aggies in our growing institution, but also growing resources on campus for Aggies that are already here. We want to do this by implementing more efficient dining options, whether that be through delivery on campus or more efficient ways to order ahead and allow for pickup by students between classes.
For leadership, we really want to stick with my motto of “act and not react” through accountability, continuity and transparency. I think for this one, we really want to highlight continuity because we understand that there’s continuing efforts in the Student Government Association right now and we don’t want it to end with my administration. We want to continue the push for implementing fall break, making digital IDs, as well as encouraging open educational resources to make college more affordable for students here.
For opportunities, we want to make sure that we keep the opportunities and experiences here at Aggieland as impactful as possible, whether that’s creating scholarships for sports passes through the 12th Man Foundation for students who may not be able to financially afford being able to stand with the 12th Man and giving them the opportunity to attend sporting events, or really focusing on preventing administrative overreach and keeping student organizations autonomous.
Finally, with well-being, we think that this is the most important because if we’re not healthy and well, we are not able to efficiently be the Aggie family. We want to make sure that people are taken care of with nutrition, health, safety and mental health, because we know that’s a really big issue here on campus. By expanding those resources to maybe West Campus and just growing those resources on campus, we want to make sure that every Aggie gets the chance to be their best self.
Elevator pitch
The Shine with Hein campaign is all about student empowerment and really growing the buy-in into Student Government Association. When we decided on our platform pieces of “G.L.O.W.,” growth, leadership, opportunity and well-being, we really wanted to make sure that we first provide students with a voice that is too loud for administration to ignore, and that’s by growing student buy-in into student government. We will provide as many opportunities as we can for students to be able to provide their input and for me and my administration to listen and really grasp what they want here on campus, because at the end of the day, the Shine with Hein campaign is here to represent students and to fight for students, and we first have to be present and listening to students in order to do that.
Why are you qualified for this position?
Over the over the past five semesters, I’ve had so many unique opportunities and experiences here on campus that have made me into the student leader I am today, whether it be being a senator and a chair in the Student Senate or a director and a delegate in the MSC Spencer Leadership Conference, or being a Hullabaloo U peer mentor to freshmen who are just coming into campus. All of these experiences have allowed me to build a toolbox of leadership skills that I am ready to employ into a position such as student body president. I’ve always been someone who’s ready to advocate for students and ready to fight for students to ensure that all of their concerns and their issues are taken care of, I think that’s what makes me the most qualified candidate as student body president is being ready to fight and being able to employ my toolbox of leadership skills.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I feel like I don’t have any hidden talents, but the closest thing that I can come up with is that I’m decent at penny boarding. I can’t do any cool tricks or flips, but I can ride a penny board pretty well, if it is just riding it. Unfortunately, I don’t have any special hidden talents, but if any students ever want to go penny boarding on West Campus garage, please let me know, I will go with you.
HELENA MACCROSSAN
Poultry science & agricultural leadership and development junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Helena MacCrossan.
Introduction
Howdy, my name is Helena MacCrossan. I am a junior poultry science and agricultural leadership and development double major from New Braunfels.
What organizations are you involved with?
I’m very involved across all corners of our campus. Primarily, I serve as the Vice President of Student Services for the Texas A&M Student Government Association.
Additionally, I’m involved as a [resident adviser] at Eppright Hall and a peer mentor for Hullabaloo U. I’m very involved with the poultry science department and our club as the diversity and inclusion officer and an ambassador. I’m also involved with Education Abroad and Class Councils.
Aggie story
I’m a first-generation Aggie. My first experience on this campus was actually in 6th grade when I came to Texas 4H Roundup. My older sister was competing in a contest and we were coming up for the day.
I first saw the college campus in a new light because it was gigantic. I’d been on a few, but this was just the largest campus and I spent a lot of time hanging out in Rudder Auditorium while performances were happening and in the MSC. Then I kept coming back each year, and then I slowly started to learn more about the departments and programs. Eventually, I knew that this was the university I absolutely wanted to come to for the poultry science program specifically.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan is “Helena Makes It Happen.” I have [a] platform of transparency, campus environment and student success. My campaign is to make a better campus happen, through transparency, student success and an improved campus environment.
Let’s connect to students. Let’s bring everyone together and make sure their voices are heard so that this campus is truly for them.
Platform
My platform is transparency, campus environment and student success. All these pieces tie together and really talk about where our campus is currently and the current climate of our campus, and hopefully where we can kind of make some strides and keep getting greater each year.
Talking about the transparency piece, we have had a lot of changes across our campus and students have really felt like they haven’t been involved, and so I really want to make sure that those conversations are including students from all corners of campus and focusing on what we can do for our current population, not just how we can help our former students or how we can help future students, but really, bridge all of the gaps and get administration and students connected on that one-on-one level.
Talking about campus environment, this ties a lot into transparency, and again the changes we’ve been seeing is how we are supporting our students especially through changes with academic realignment and assuring them that they will still have those programs that they came in with, as well as supporting them in just the overall climate on campus. How can we connect them to resources? How can we make sure that they are feeling included and there’s equity on our campus?
This ties into my last pillar of student success, so this is how we support students, not just once they’re in, but throughout their entire college education. Make sure they are involved, make sure that they are truly a well-rounded Aggie who feels included, [even if] that’s a non-traditional student who maybe doesn’t feel like they can go to traditions because they aren’t for them but that we can find ways to connect them.
There’s lots of things that all tie together, and ultimately it’s a very big picture of what I want to see this campus do, and it starts with a lot of conversations and really connecting to a lot of students all across campus.
Elevator pitch
My campaign is to make a better campus happen. This is through transparency, student success and an improved campus environment. Let’s connect to students. Let’s bring everyone together and make sure their voices are heard so that this campus is truly for them.
Why are you qualified for this position?
While we have a very competitive and ultimately very qualified slate of student body president candidates this year, I feel that I am very qualified not only through my experience within the Student Government Association, but also across campus.
Within SGA I am currently serving as Vice President of Student Services, so I get to see a lot of students, and a lot of student needs and issues and really get some of those insights into campus departments.
I sit on several committees, including transportation, dining, campus emergencies, things like that, and so I kind of get the insight at the admin[istrative] level as well as from the student level.
What are students actually seeing? Because sometimes they’re really small issues like, “My bus was late today, can we get another bus on this route?” or “Can we have the dining halls open an extra hour during Ramadan because they close really early and those students can’t eat until after sunset.” There’s a lot of really small issues, and then there’s a lot of really big planning logistic issues that I won’t see completed until well after I’m graduated, when I’m a former student.
Things like securing permanent funding for the Period Project or looking at digitizing Aggie ID cards is something that we’re currently looking at as well.
Through those roles and through my previous experience as the Vice President of Municipal Affairs, I was involved with Gig The Vote where we got to do some really awesome work with our College Station City Council and producing voter guides and getting students registered to vote.
I have a lot of experience connecting one-on-one with students through the Texas A&M Student Government Association. Additionally, I’m involved in so many corners [of] campus, and I do a lot of peer mentorship. I have been a freshman peer mentor through both the university honors program and Hullabaloo U and as an RA; I really get to see where students are feeling lost. Where are they actually looking for those needs? How can we connect to them to make sure we’re serving them correctly?
I also get to work with a lot of nontraditional students. Personally, [in the] Department of Poultry Science and the Agricultural Leadership program we work with a lot of nontraditional transfer students who have kind of come back for a second career, and so this is also giving me great insight into what these students [are] looking for. How can we really improve their college education and exemplify what it means to be an Aggie?
Not just when you’re 18 years old as [a] freshman, like I was and like so many of my peers are, but also for those students coming back.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I think the best thing I can talk about is I have shot archery for a really long time, so I started shooting archery when I was in fourth or fifth grade.
It started with a little toy plastic bow that my dad got from Academy for me, and then it turned into compound bows and so I did it at the competitive level through Texas 4H. This past summer, I taught archery for two and a half months at Camp Waldemar, and so I spent a lot of time out on the range.
I’ve also taken the archery class here on campus, KINE 199 with Bill Cody, one of the best classes you can take on campus, whether you’ve shot archery or haven’t.
LOGAN MOHR
Political science junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Logan Mohr.
Introduction
My name is Logan Mohr, and I am a first-generation, political science major and I’m in the Class of 2023. A-A-A Whoop!
What organizations are you involved with?
I am a part of MSC SCONA, I’ve worked on public relations for them for the past year and it’s been really eye-opening because it’s an organization I would never have thought that I would have found myself in. I had never seen myself in an MSC organization, especially SCONA, but I’ve been able to kind of expand what I’ve learned and expand my knowledge and my connections with people.
I’m creating a documentary on campus for Texas A&M University, and it’s focused solely on the LGBTQ+ community and how we, because I’m a part of the community, are treated on campus: the culture around what we’re doing, what the university does good for us, what the university doesn’t.
It’s kind of like identifying a little bit of everything of what’s happening throughout the university within this group.
I was asked recently to come serve on a panel for Draggieland, last week actually. It’s the week before Draggieland and it’ll just be me speaking about my documentary and just really connecting with those individuals, connecting with Draggieland, connect with all these [organizations] and being able to really kind of get more information and more people to be involved in the documentary as interviewees and as people sharing their story and being their most authentic self. That’s all I want here.
Aggie story
I’m a first-generation college student, so I kind of came in with a blindfold as we all do as first-generation students. I was applying [to] universities throughout high school, and I really didn’t know where I could fit in the best. My parents gave me, “You’re doing great,” but they really didn’t know how to help me. I wouldn’t know where to reach out to, so I just got [to] applying to places and came in to tour Texas A&M. I felt like I could be here and belong, so I applied and I got accepted.
Then when I first came to the university my first semester here, it was a kind of a culture shock. It wasn’t what I had expected. It wasn’t that feeling at the very beginning. I felt like I could not be my most authentic self, but that’s OK because I want to change that.
I want to be able to be a voice for these students and a voice for individuals that have the same experience as me, because the people I’ve talked to throughout my journey here at Texas A&M and throughout the past couple months with first-generation students, had the same experience as me. They’ve all said they wished that could be changed, because that’s how the unification starts within the student body. The students feel like they’re accepted and make them feel like they can be their most authentic selves.
The student body; we are the most important thing at the university and we all value diversity, we all value inclusion, we all value community and we all value equity and that’s what I’m running on. We all see this problem, and a lot of us have been scared to face this problem because [we] don’t know the outcomes of it. I’ve reflected on what I could do to help these students and these marginalized groups and the student body as a whole. And I was like, “I want to run for student body president.”
I feel like I could get my voice heard and make the administration at least hear something because this is planting the seed. If you just plant the seed, you can hope it grows. With that being said, and being able to be part of Draggieland this year and just having all these experiences together, that’s really helped me [evolve] myself and [be] an active member of my community and active member of Texas A&M because we have a saying here: as Aggies we don’t leave Aggies behind. I know I felt like I was being left behind when I first came here, and I know a lot of other students flocked there being left behind, so it’s just figuring out how we can let all Aggies together all coexist in one community. I feel like my platform and what I want to put forward can do that, and regardless of the outcome of [SBP election], I’m still going to get it done.
This is my initiative. I’m very passionate about it and I really want this to happen, and it’s going to happen in any way possible I can make it happen.
Campaign slogan
My campaign title is called “Mohr for Aggieland,” because my last name is Mohr. I have four points that I’m hitting on: diversity, inclusion, community and equity, and my slogan for it is called “Empower you,” so I want to empower students through diversity, through inclusion, through community and through equity to empower them to be their most authentic selves, to be the Aggie they want to be and to be the person they feel like: their most authentic self they can feel like they belong here at Texas A&M University.
Platform
Because we all come here to get our education, but we [also] come here to find a community. We come here to find a place that we can fit in, and we’re able to have that because we have 70,000 students on campus. There’s a lot of us, and being able to have this community come together and grow together.
Some of my points I’m hitting are mental health resources. That’s a really big one. I know from my experiences with the mental health resources on campus, I was turned away a lot of the time or my calls were not answered when I needed help. I really struggled with that, so I’ve reached out to nonprofits, reached out to different community organizations. Now it’s like, “How can we help these students in the best way we can?”
It’s bringing in these nonprofits, bringing these outside resources through the university to let these students know that there’s someone else besides the university to help them, and through the mental health resources, just adding that part to really show the students that we care about their mental health. We care about them and we care about what they’re saying, what they’re feeling and tying that into diversity and inclusion, because again, they’re all systematic, you can’t have one without the other.
We need to have all of them here at Texas A&M and through diversity, I’ve really thought about what I wanted to do and there’s so much that could be done and there’s so much that I want to do. I came up with this organization, called MSC Students Living in Diversity, that was my original name for it.
We need it university-wide, so I turn it into just students living in diversity, and it’s just an organization that’s a representation of the diversity on campus and how initiatives that can be put in with this organization to push forward and push forward within this community.
Having this diversity organization will allow students to say, “Hey, we’re doing something” while we’re getting this organization that’s not [already] here on campus. We don’t have anything like it, so it’s like having this organization to really foster the values that we have as Aggies and the values we have as ourselves too and tying in with inclusion. It’s like one of the big things I want to do is like have a town hall every month for SGA, from the Student Body President, and have organizations come in and have them actually facilitate the town hall in any student that wants to come: any background, any ethnicity, any identity, come and sit down and speak, and voice their opinions and their concerns, and allow my team and allow SGA to absorb that information and take it to the administration and take it to these people that have this power, and have this say in the university and show them, “Hey, this is what the students are saying, this is what we value.” If you say you value these students and you value this university, then action needs to be taken. Action needs to be taken with these organizations, with these individuals and with these students, because if action isn’t taken, then why are we here?
Having that town hall for these students, for these individuals to share their experiences and share whatever they can, that could help make the university more diverse and more inclusive and more equitable.
In terms of equity, I know for myself, I have really found that this is a very specific item, but in terms of tutoring we don’t have that here at the university, we have the SSB which is great, but we don’t have that one-on-one personal connection treating service offered to the students and it’s just adding that in.
I want to add that in to be able to show students that we care about their education and want everyone to have this access to academic advancement because it can be very expensive to get just private tutoring. Unfortunately, a lot of the first generation, a lot of minority groups, a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community can’t afford it because we … [don’t have those] resources or those funds to be able to put that in there, but having that to offer students so they don’t have to worry about, “Am I going to pass my classes because I have to work a full-time job?”
Elevator pitch
Mohr for Aggieland is not just my initiative in my campaign for [the] student body, it’s for you. It’s for the students that experience these microaggressions, that experience these different things at the university in their experiences. To show them you know how they can fit in with the university, and to show them they matter, because all I want to give the university is more for diversity, more for inclusion, more for community, more for equity. Mohr for you, and then Mohr for Aggieland.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I think qualification comes in a lot of different ways, especially through leadership. I’ve had extensive leadership training, even through high school serving as a state officer for an organization and coming into college, and not knowing again where I could fit in. I was just trying to put my foot in every pond, and I figured that I couldn’t do that because I couldn’t work full-time, have all these organizations and my classes on top of that. We evaluated, and I was like, “What can I do for the university?”
Through what I’ve done with this documentary that I’m currently making, through my involvement with different organizations, through my connections that I have and the connections I continue to grow within the university.
Leadership is, personally, not just about words. I can say a lot of the things that I want to do, but it’s about action and showing the action that I’ve already taken here at the university to make it more diverse, to make it more inclusive, to bring this community together, to [be] more equitable. I feel that has allowed me to boost my qualifications because I’m already taking action now, before I am student body president. I’m already taking what I have learned and what I have gained throughout my experiences, through my classes and the org[anizations] I’ve been in and put it toward something better for the university to move it forward, to allow it to grow.
It’s not just about what I can do now, but it’s about the future Aggies and the impact that can be made for them. We have short-term goals and we have long-term goals. All of my goals follow the S.M.A.R.T. goal system, so they’re Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
I’ve been able to structure that on my platform and structure that within what I’ve learned throughout the university. My initiatives all fit under that, and allow for these initiatives and these platforms to continue to grow even after I’m gone, even after I’m no longer student body president, because I will always have my connection here at Texas A&M University, I will always be a part of that community. “Once an Aggie, always an Aggie.” Setting up and be[ing] able to see what the work I put in, the work the students have put in, to grow these initiatives throughout the university.
I am thoroughly excited. It’s not only a beautiful thing, and I think that’s what makes me most qualified is the passion, my leadership experience and what I’ve already done now, in the action I’ve taken to further university before being student body president.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I’m a photographer. It started a year ago, so it’s only been a year and I didn’t realize that I could take photos. I was handed a camera and I was like, “Wait, what do I do with this? What’s ISO? What’s shutter speed?” They were like here, take this camera and take a picture. I said, “Is this good?” and they’re like, “It’s out of focus, but we’ll get there,” and I was like, “OK, that’s cool.”
After like a couple of months, I started practicing more, and I caught on really quickly and I was like, “Oh this is kind of fun now, like I can actually do this.”
I used that photography skills to expand my videography skills, and I co-instructed a workshop in Alaska, focused on the LGBT+ community and used those skills to help the students have a safe space to talk to us because they were young students, high schoolers. A lot of them weren’t out and were very scared to be their most authentic selves.
They came and talked to us and we were mentors to talk to them and truly speak to them. [The students] interviewed their mentors and their mentors interviewed them, and they made three one-minute videos that were released in Pride Month by the Pride Association of Alaska. So, that ties into [the] start of my journey with my advocacy work for the LGBT community.
CHRISTIAN NEWTON
Biomedical sciences sophomore
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Christian Newton.
Introduction
Howdy, my name is Christian Newton. I’m a sophomore biomedical sciences major from Humble, but most importantly I’m the loudest and proudest member of the fighting Texas Aggie Class of 2024, A-A-A-A-A
What organizations are you involved with?
I currently serve as the class president for the Class of 2024 as well as an SGA senator, and through that role I serve as a caucus leader for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Through the Senate, I take all the different input from my entire college, and I share that with my dean and our university admin[istration], and through the class president I continue to build that sense of community on our campus.
I also served as a Fish Camp counselor at Camp Voelkel, as well as a member of MSC Abbott. I also serve as a member of the Howdy Crew, so I give tours to prospective and former students.
Aggie story
I’m a first-generation college student, so no one in my family has [been to] college except for one cousin who went to “t.u.” — sssss — so originally, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was a T-sip [because] that was the only person in my family who had been to college. I bought the burnt orange jersey, my room was burnt orange, I had a hat with my name on it and everything; I was like, “This is where I’m going to.”
But then, I went to my first A&M football game. I didn’t know much about sports at all, I know the ball goes through the little thing. It’s like 2 1/2 points or whatever. But back in high school, my freshman year, I went to my first Aggie football game, and I was like “Wow.” It had nothing to do with anything on the field really, just the students around the field, the 12th Man and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band.
After the game, I even called the TexAgs radio station and was like, “I was a ‘t.u.’ fan, but I’m definitely going to A&M now.”
I also had a tour scheduled, a campus tour for t.u., and our car broke down on the way. I was like, “That’s a sign that that is not the university I need to attend.” So, that’s how I’m here today.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan is, “It’s time to R.E.A.C.H. and go all in for Newton.”
Platform
The slogan is “It’s time to R.E.A.C.H.” That spells out the five points of my vision, it’s time to R.E.A.C.H., as well as go all in for Remembrance, all in for Empowerment, all in for Academics, all in for Community and all in for Health, and those are the five main components.
I have tangible ideas and like collaborating with our tradition organizations such as Class Councils, as well as Traditions Council to highlight the traditions that happen on our campus through a spirit week.
[I have] other ideas, like defending student organizations’ independence from administrative overreach, as well as continuing to build that sense of community that I’ve already done as class president, through university-established Greek Week, would be a really amazing opportunity. Greek life does so much for our campus, so it would be really nice to highlight some of the initiatives they put on, as well as advocating for napping spaces on campus.
I actually just took a nap. I had to go all the way home and then drive all the way back. It would be really nice if I could find somewhere on campus where I could chill out for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, no one’s gonna bother me. I’m gonna get my Zs in.
It’s all layers of campus, all inclusive and with physical and emotional health, building that sense of community and those other things I talked about, and I really want to reach out to every single student: reach out to Greek life, reach out to the Corps of Cadets, reach out to student-athletes, reach out to students in organizations and not in organizations, grad students, doctoral students, literally everyone I can, just being out there for the students.
Elevator pitch
Howdy, my name is Christian Newton, I’m a sophomore biomedical science major from Houston, Texas. The “All in for Newton” vision is to reach out to every single student in an effort to be all in for Aggies, to be all in for Remembrance, all in for Empowerment, all in for Academics, all in for Community, all in for Health. We really want to make sure that every single student’s voice is heard in our platform, and what we want to see in Aggieland next year and what the entire student body wants to see in Aggieland. I have significant ideas, and I have already talked about remembering our traditions as well as empowering students’ voices. I’m advocating for academic improvements as well as continuing to build with the community and pushing for health improvements on campus.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I currently serve as class president. Through that role, I’ve really gotten the experience and the passion and motivation, as well as being able to work with administration and different students, to bring concerns from students to administration. Same thing through my role with the student senator.
I’m passionate about the Aggie family and passionate about current students, as well as welcoming students into the Aggie family through the Aggie Recruitment Committee or being a tour guide or Fish Camp counselor. Everyone can serve at the university, but I’m aware that students are at the forefront [of the] university. That is something that I’ve really got to dig into as class president as well as a student senator.
I’m also a member of MSC Abbott, so I’ve really gotten to develop into my ethics and values and how my family has shaped where I am today, but I really think that it’s not about the quantity of the experiences or the different years of experience or things like that, it’s really about the quality and just the people that I’ve got to meet every single day on this campus.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I’m thinking of two things that are unique about me. One of them, I call it a talent. I think I’m pretty good at doing the worm. Some people say it’s just me throwing my shoulder on the ground, but I still think it’s a pretty amazing experience, if you guys ever get to see it.
A huge part of my commitment to tradition is that I’ve been to 183 Two-Piece-Tuesdays, so I’ve gone to Popeye’s every single week to get the Tuesday special, rain, sleet or snow. I’ve been all over the country. I’ve been to Popeyes in Montana and Colorado. It’s been by myself, or with a group of two to 10 to 15 people, random strangers, so really, it’s just continuing that sense of community.
JACOB PRATT
Finance junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Jacob Pratt.
Introduction
Howdy, I’m Jacob Pratt. I’m from Austin. I’m a finance major from the Class of 2023 — A-A-A Whoop! — and I’m running for student body president here at Texas A&M.
What organizations are you involved with?
I’m in a men’s organization called Aggie Men’s Club, where I’ve been an active member for a couple years. I served as secretary, and right now I’m running their social media as media relations chair.
Aggie story
When I first stepped foot on this campus, I was actually a senior in high school. I’m from Austin, Texas, like I said, and so, being from Austin, you grew up just hearing about the Longhorns. I didn’t really know much about College Station — in fact, I’ve been told it was very agrarian. I’d been told it smelled like manure, it was like some farm town. I got here and I actually really liked the campus; it’s beautiful and the people were super friendly and it was close to home and it was a great school and education. I’m so glad I came here because I was looking at other schools — Arkansas or Montana State — which [are] kind of far but, if I’d gone there, I would have made the most of it. I certainly wouldn’t have known what I was missing out on, and I think that’s the people here. That’s why I want to give back. I feel indebted to this place, and people have always been my passion. That’s why I think I could be a great representative for the student body as a whole.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan is “Partner with Pratt.” I definitely wanted to use some alliteration, and I was kind of looking through some verbs online that started with “P.” I actually was playing around with some, but I didn’t really have one that I really, really wanted and I had been looking it up and my mom actually Googled up action words that start with P. She came up with “partner” and I was like, “Wow, it’s a great idea, thank you so much.” So I can’t take all the credit on that one.
Platform
I think it goes back to stepping foot on this campus for the first time. I was very excited. I like this place a lot, but I didn’t know how much I would love it until I became a student here. After spending three years here, I definitely want to give back. I think every year people run for a position and I’ve looked at platforms before, and I think that they can be a little bit more practical and tangible. So, the way I break down my platform — or “Prattform,” if you will — the first P is Practical. I think that my experience here has been better than excellent, but I think there are some tangible ways that we could still improve it. First of all, being a business student, we take almost all of our tests with scantrons. I think sometimes if a student forgets to bring a scantron, or they bring the wrong one, I think that adds a little bit of an extra stress that I don’t think it quite should. You don’t take the STAAR test or the ACT and bring a scantron, they provide that for you, and at the end of the day it’s not about the 80 cents you pay, it’s a convenience.
One thing that I really like that SGA has pushed for and I’d love to continue to make the push for, is digitizing the student IDs and sports passes. About 20% of students lose their sports or their student ID. I’ve lost mine. I currently don’t have it and I would love [if you could] pull out your Howdy Portal, scan it for pulling tickets, your meal plan, whatever that might be.
The second part is Personal. This is a position [that is] very personal to me. I’d really love to give back, and I want to help my fellow students. I think people talk about mental health every year, and I think the most tangible way we can improve mental health would be that fall semester. It’s long, it’s my favorite semester, but there’s football games. You’re not going home very much. Come Thanksgiving break, we’ve got about two days off for Thanksgiving. I think we could get a whole week off for Thanksgiving. We already started a week later than UT. Why don’t we just move some of those days to the Thanksgiving break? That’s a time where people want to see their families, they want to travel, maybe they want to get ahead on their finals right around the corner, and if you got two days, you’re not going to study for those finals, you’re going to just soak that time up, so I think that’d be great.
The last P is Present. I think one of my priorities is I want to have a presence across campus. I’ve gotten to speak to dozens of organizations thus far, many different leaders around campus, many different people from different circles, whether it’s Greek life, the Corps of Cadets, people in men’s or women’s org[anizations], various majors. One of my favorite things is asking them, what would they like changed about A&M or what do they love about A&M? After speaking to all these organizations, I’d love to come back if elected and say, “Hey, you guys have all helped me get here. Now I’m building my cabinet, I’m appointing positions, I’d love a more diverse representation in SGA. Let’s get more people from the Corps, from Greek life, from all circles.” I think that’d be really cool. It could get a little bit more broad perspective. I’d love to spend my summer here in College Station speaking to Fish Camp, speaking [at a] New Student Conference and saying, if elected, “I’m Jacob Pratt, I’m your student body president. I loved it here, you’re gonna love it, too. Here’s my office hours, here’s my email, talk to me if you ever need anything.” That’s kind of my Prattform, and I’m excited to share that vision with you and I hope you’ll Partner with Pratt.
Elevator pitch
I’m a people person — that’s always been my passion. I’m probably one of the most extroverted people you’ll meet. I think my love for Aggies is what will make me a good representative and advocate for the student body as a whole. We got some practical changes that I want to implement — be that a week off for Thanksgiving, mental health for students or continuing to push to digitize student IDs and sports passes, providing scantrons for students so they don’t have to worry about bringing them on their tests and quizzes — this is something really personal to me. I’m really excited. This experience thus far has been a blast just running. I think all the people I’ve got to talk to, all the thoughts. I can’t think of how great it’d actually be being in the office and having a full year being my job. This is something I’m really passionate about, and I’d love if you would Partner with Pratt.
Why are you qualified for this position?
In high school, I did a little bit of student council. I was a sophomore class president, junior class vice president and then student body president my senior year. I attended a summer program called Texas Boys State where we learned about Texas government and leadership. All that stuff was great; I really enjoyed it. When I came to A&M, right off the bat, I kind of wanted to get plugged in socially. I joined the Aggie Men’s Club, I focused on school. Though organizationally I’ve only been involved through the Aggie Men’s Club, I’ve applied to get involved elsewhere — whether that’s Maroon Coats — but socially, some of my best friends are in Greek life, some of them are in the Corps of Cadets, some of them are in Aggie Club Engineers. Some of them aren’t really involved much, they just go to school and all like to have fun and love A&M. I think that a lot of people that are running for this position have been in SGA their whole time, and that’s kind of been a big focus of theirs. I’m so thankful that they’ve been willing to serve this whole time, but I think I have a unique perspective, being an Aggie student, being a little bit away from SGA. I think sometimes it can be hard for them to grasp the ideas and opinions outside of it. So, I think to me, taking a step back from that for a few years, I think I can bring some new perspective and I think I’m extra motivated to continue to bring more perspectives that way.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I would say I’m very good at classic rock name that tune. If anyone wants to challenge me, find me wherever. If we have a minute, I’d love to play. You put on a ‘70s rock playlist and we see if you can name the song and artists first, you get one point for the song, one for the artist. That’s, I’d say, one of my hidden talents.
NOBLE UDOH
Public health senior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Noble Udoh.
Introduction
My name is Noble Udoh. I’m currently a public health major, Class of 2022, and I’m running for student body president.
What organizations are you involved with?
I love this question. So right now, I am currently involved with student government, I currently serve as the executive vice president to the current student body president. I’m also a member of the Maroon Coats. Just got accepted as a member recently, which is amazing.
I also serve at my church as a volunteer, so I help out with sound. I’m also a volunteer at Brazos Heart Rhythm, an electrophysiology private practice. Basically, what they do is they treat abnormal heart rhythms, so I volunteer there as a medical assistant.
Aggie story
In 2017, I moved to the U.S. … from Nigeria, and I went to Austin Community College for two and a half years. At the time, I didn’t really know what school I wanted to go to, so it’s not like I always knew I was going to attend A&M, but I had two friends, one of them who had family that went to A&M and the other one had visited A&M and they encouraged me to apply. At the time, someone [in] administration at Austin Community College and I worked closely with had attended A&M, and she also strongly encouraged me to apply and I was like, “OK, cool, I’ll look into it.” So, I applied to A&M. I got in. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to attend. However, I came down to visit, and my friend was telling me about the different traditions, Silver Taps and just the camaraderie and that’s the biggest thing that drew me to A&M.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan is “Good Bull with Noble.” I chose that slogan because I feel like it captures our vision, it captures what we’re trying to do. Good bull, obviously, anything that is good excitement, it’s something we’re excited about, something we’re looking forward to. I think that the campaign itself is about leaving A&M better than we found it, which is good bull to me and also good bull to students and the people that are supporting me with this campaign. I chose that because I feel like it’s simple and I feel like it’s able to capture our messaging and what we are all about.
Platform
Initially, when I moved to the U.S., I moved to Austin Community College, obviously, and I served as the youngest student body president there, but I transferred to A&M in the fall of 2020, which isn’t the best time to transfer just because of COVID[-19]. Everything was online, but I had the opportunity to serve as chief of staff to [the] current student body president and eventually executive vice president. Throughout my time serving in that role as executive vice president and chief of staff here at A&M, I’ve seen different issues on campus and I was like, “OK, these are things that I feel students need,” or, “These are issues that I feel students are facing.” Basically, that kind of led me to come up with three main platform pieces.
So, one of them is increasing awareness of opportunities. Students typically are involved in organizations, whether that’s extracurricular organizations or academic organizations, but I think that a lot of times, we don’t know where to find the opportunities that we need, for example, internships. So, I hope to work with the Office of Academic and Strategic Collaborations to research those resources, or those opportunities that students aren’t aware of, and make them more visible through an in-person and social media campaign. That’s increasing awareness of opportunities, that’s the first platform point.
The second one is increasing availability of services. I would like to work with the dining services to increase nutritious food options on campus, just so people have healthy food options that they could go to and just fill their body in the right way. Then the second point on increasing availability of services is mental health. Currently, through my current position as executive vice president, I serve as a student representative on the Student Health Services Advisory Committee. Throughout my time there, I’ve had the opportunity to work with CAPS and also work with Student Health Services, and we’ve had discussions on what services we could offer to students and one of them that one of the new services actually brought up was My SSB. So, it’s an app [for] 24/7 counseling resources that students could use, but I think that there’s more that we could do, I think that we could obviously advocate for more. Their app is good and it’s nice, it’s free, but at the same time, I think that there are resources or services that we could provide through CAPS. Through my current position and my relationships with people working with them, I think that I know the right people to talk to to make that happen.
Then my third platform piece is decreasing barriers to accessing resources. So, I’m sure you already know this, but with the whole issue of The Battalion, I think that that does not allow student organizations to function independently of … yes, the provision is good, but at the same time, I think that there’s a level of autonomy that student organization should have that fosters true leadership development. I think that if resources are being taken from any organization, that will decrease the ability to function as independent leaders, which will definitely impact their experience, but also that could negatively affect their work experience leaving A&M. I think that those skills that we learned from making those decisions, failing, but also succeeding, definitely prepares us for going out into the world and succeeding. Then, my second point under, that is, I would also like to work with my team to research the feasibility of providing financial assistance to students who are struggling to pay dues, or struggling to find scholarship opportunities because of their visa status.
My three platform pieces are increasing awareness of opportunities, increasing availability of services and decreasing barriers to access and resources.
Elevator pitch
My platform is increasing awareness of opportunities, increasing availability of services and decreasing barriers to accessing resources.
Why are you qualified for this position?
It’s not every day that you see a student body president candidate who has been student body president. It’s not that being student body president at another school equally translates to being student body president at A&M, but I think that there’s a certain level of experience that comes with [it]. I think that there’s a certain level of understanding of the position, the difficulties that come with being in that position that I understand. Being student body president at Austin Community College, being chief of staff at A&M, but also executive vice president at A&M — I feel like I have the experience from working in that position, but I also have the experience from working closely with someone in that position here at A&M.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
My hidden talent is dancing. I dance. I dance, but I don’t. I don’t show it to people. I dance in my room.
NICHOLAS ZANG
Sport management junior
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Nicholas Zang.
Introduction
Hi, my name is Nicolas Zang. I’m running for student body president. I’m a junior in Class of 2023 here at Texas A&M, and I look forward to working with y’all.
What organizations are you involved with?
On campus, I actually started the Aggie Nickwork back in my freshman year, but I was at Blinn at the time, so I couldn’t actually become an official member of that. Ultimately, that was a lot of fun getting a bunch of people just with the same name together and that’s just part of the wonderful, fun culture of Texas A&M. You don’t get to find that anywhere else. I’m also involved in an off-campus org[anization], the university doesn’t give it too much credit. They kind of like to bat off to the side, and I can’t blame them, but I’m involved with Student Bonfire. We now like to call ourselves Aggie Bonfire. We’re an off-campus organization. We just continued that old tradition that ended in tragedy, but ultimately, reworked [to be] completely safe. It’s been re-engineered by Aggies. I’m in charge of that. I have to craft an $80,000 budget a year, and the funding comes from I don’t know where, I have to raise myself. I’m just a hard-working, average guy; I’m just a regular student.
Aggie story
I only had a sister that went here before me. She was Class of 2019, but before that, I just had a bunch of friends and family up in the Dallas area that really liked the Aggies and supported them. I actually remember one Thanksgiving, we were just watching Johnny Manziel run across the pocket all over the place, Johnny Football at it again. I didn’t have too many ties to A&M, except for friends and family that just told me how awesome it was. I had some family that were T-sips, and I just remembered one one year when I was eight years old rooting for the Aggies against the T-sips, where we won. Ultimately, I didn’t have too much of a connection to A&M, but back in high school, my high school is rooted in tradition and I wanted to find a place that could expand upon that and give me traditions and give me unification across the entire student body that you can’t find anywhere else. That’s what makes them so special, that’s why I’m so proud to be here.
Campaign slogan
My campaign slogan has been changing for a while. As of right now we have Greater with Zanger. My nickname back when I was playing hockey was always Zanger. That’s just one of the terms they just throw out there and you just get stuck with it and honestly, it fits. There’s other slogans [that] have come and gone, but as I said in the debate, I ran as a whim and I’m out here. I just want to support the student body and want to be an accurate representation of them. So, I’ll give my campaign slogan some more thoughts, and I still got what, like a week and a few days to get that in before the vote. So, we’ll figure it out.
Platform
My platform is interesting. My whole idea is that student government has no voice, period. It’s been seen all throughout this entire semester so far, and we’re only a few weeks in. In reality, the administration does not care what the student body has to say. They’ve proven it by wanting to shut down The Battalion. Still, the president is dodging questions, and hasn’t made it too clear about whether or not The Battalion is going to be printing past this semester, and that’s just one of the instances I don’t feel like this current administration really listens to the student body. We are Aggies, we are rooted in culture and I don’t feel like this administration is really looking at that culture. My entire platform is that the student government has no power except for over themselves. I want to change that; I want to be the bridge between the student body and the administration. I am just a regular, average student, and I just want change.
Why are you qualified for this position
My qualifications come from my experience with Bonfire. I’m the president of it. [It’s] a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and also an LLC. For y’all that don’t know, that is a limited liability company, so I am in charge of a company that gets zero funding except through me and [leadership]. We work hard to do it, we have to raise all the money ourselves and we have to find where to spend this money. Many people don’t think that using donated land to cut down trees costs a lot of money. Well, it does, and it’s hard work and that’s what builds character. So, I’ve led hundreds of students at a time to go work for free in the middle of nowhere cutting down trees. I feel like I can lead students in an organized fashion, where all the student body is united for one purpose, and that’s to have a voice.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I’m brutally honest at times, and I don’t know if that’s a talent, but have to think about that. Most people didn’t know I play hockey, so I feel like I can skate pretty well. I can make a flower with my tongue, but that’s just something fun.
