What are your feelings as you move from your junior year to your senior year at the College of William and Mary?
“I can’t believe I’m a senior … that’s legitimately ridiculous. Someone told me that every year of college gets better. I had a really, really good freshman year and I was kind of skeptical of that afterwards, but it has definitely held true. … I really do feel like all the moves that the school has made in the last three years since I have been here have really been on point, and I can’t wait to get involved next year.”
Are there any events or initiatives that you are particularly excited about for next year?
“Much of what I want to do with the SA this year is a lot of big time programming. … The big thing we have coming right off the docks is the Dalai Lama. And that is going to be October 10, 2012 … as well as a lot of stuff going on with the 2012 election. It’s going to be an unbelievable first semester and there is a lot of stuff going on second semester as well … a lot of things the SA can possibly impact the College with.”
Do you have any advice to welcome the Class of 2016?
“You’re really coming into a very unique situation … William and Mary is a very unique place to go in terms of the undergraduate. Just by structural composition, just how it’s sort of like a private-school feel as a public institution. … I think the mantra “One Tribe, One Family,” is the truth … the College is what you make of it.”
How can freshmen look to get involved in the Student Assembly?
“The SA freshman election will be late September or early October at the latest. … You can run for any of your class positions. If you don’t get elected, you can still get involved elsewhere … in appointed positions and something we are going to re-up this year called the first year council that has been done in years past.”
What are your goals for next year?
“The Student Assembly is way, way new this year. … the SA’s got a lot of new people in it and it’s very much a new birth. … This really is a completely new Student Assembly. … This is a real transition year, a real make or break year, and so the assailing goal for the SA is to lay the groundwork or framework of the [SA] going five or 10 years in advance.”
Is there anything you are planning to change or update this next year?
“I think a lot of the SA’s problems can just be solved by personnel. If you have the right people doing the right things at the right time and people working together, suddenly the SA policy doesn’t look so bad.
“Sure, there are some things that need to be reformed, but I generally focus more on the people in the SA and the tenor of the SA and making sure the executive, the senate, the undergraduate council, and the review board work together as one.
“I think for most people they assume that the SA works together, but I don’t think that’s always been the case in the past and if I can do anything to move that direction, I would do a lot of things to do that.”
Anything else you’d like to add to the Class of 2016?
“William and Mary is very much defined by its extracurricular culture and I think that’s got two things. I would definitely encourage [everyone] to be in at least one organization … but I would also caution most freshmen from joining everything they see … I know that’s what I did and I would say that it is much better to be involved, focus on two or three things and put your whole heart into it versus doing nine things sporadically … Freshman year is about trying new things … don’t be afraid to move out of your comfort level a little bit. Just have a good time.”
