Since class election results were announced Sept. 26, Devaughn Henry ’28 has been working hard in his new role as president of the College of William and Mary’s class of 2028. He meets three times a week with his class senators: every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Henry opened up about the large quantity of work that being a class president entails, but enjoys the results he has seen so far.
“It’s a lot of work,” Henry said. “Really time consuming, but it’s rewarding.”
Henry spoke about how there are still many protocols he needs to learn so he can offer the greatest number of opportunities to student peers, but enjoys the learning process.
“My favorite part about being president is the meetings,” Henry said. “Just learning and immersing myself in that, and being able to suck in as much knowledge as I can.”
He’s currently pursuing a myriad of activities, including the first Class of 2028 gathering slated for Nov. 21.
“This coming month of November, we’re working on our first class event, which is a s’mores event for freshmen on the Sunken Garden,” Henry said. “It’s still in the works, but everything’s pretty much almost done.”
In the future, Henry hopes to partner with local businesses to plan town-wide events for students at the College. He is currently working out the logistics of the holiday community tree lighting ceremony, aiming to reduce participation costs for students as much as possible.
“I’m in contact with representatives from Colonial Williamsburg to try to partner with them for their annual tree lighting ceremony,” Henry said. “I’m trying to work it out so it’s a free event for students.”
Henry is also looking ahead to the College’s 332nd charter day, with the Class of 2028 taking on the responsibility of preparing the Student Assembly bill for the celebration.
“The class of 2028 just took on the role of creating the bill for charter day, which is in February,” Henry said. “And the Green and Gold bash. We’re ready for it.”
Henry aims to make freshman year as exciting as possible for the class of 2028, prioritizing inclusivity and opportunity for all students.
“My goal as president is to make our freshman year as rewarding as possible and as inclusive as possible,” Henry said. “To offer the most amount of opportunities for everyone in our class. And just accomplish anything that I can.”
Henry explained that the bills he’s working on will take some time to develop. In the meantime, he’s focused on gaining widespread support for his initiatives among faculty and staff.
“Most of the bills that I’m working on right now are going to take time,” Henry said. “And they’re popular among the freshman class, but among faculty and staff they’re not very popular. So I know there’s going to be some struggle in doing that.”
Outside of student politics, Henry recently had the opportunity to volunteer for both Kamala Harris and Nikki Haley’s presidential campaigns. Early in the 2024 primaries, he served as a phone banker for the Haley campaign.
Haley aligned with Henry’s values the best in comparison to the presidential candidates at the time: Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“I didn’t want to vote for two 80-year-old candidates,” Henry said. “I just felt like this wasn’t a place we needed to be in as a country. It’s not very reflective of the population of our country as a whole.”
Henry most recently did canvassing and phone banking for the Harris campaign. Henry strongly believes in exercising the right to vote and encourages students to do so.
“You never realize how much your vote counts until you miss that opportunity,” Henry said. “You could be that one deciding vote that changes the election dramatically. I don’t think a lot of people really understand the value of their vote, thinking it doesn’t matter. In actuality, voting is the most basic right that many people die for.”
Being a Black student, Henry feels that it is especially important to vote since past generations were not able to exercise their constitutional right.
“As a Black person, the civil rights movement was not that long ago,” Henry said. “My great grandparents weren’t able to vote. I want to exercise my rights and take part in the American dream.”
Serving the people also inspired Henry to become involved in his local fire department. He loves the adrenaline rush he gets when going on calls and has been volunteering there for over three years.
“The first couple calls I went on, that adrenaline rush that you get and the feeling that what you’re doing can save someone’s life and you’re helping someone,” Henry said. “You’re getting them through the toughest times they might have experienced, and I really enjoyed that.”
Henry plans on submitting an application to join the Williamsburg Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter.
On campus, Henry is a part of the WMSURE program. Every Wednesday, the program hosts workshops that cover a wide range of topics. Henry finds the workshops to be especially helpful as he looks into internships and summer research opportunities.
“The most recent one we had was on internships and summer research,” Henry said. “And it was really interesting because they were very helpful in starting our search for summer internships.”
In the spirit of student engagement, Henry emphasized that students can reach out to him directly as well as submit questions through his upcoming newsletter to the class of 2028.
“The best way to contact me is in our newsletters, I do put my phone number and email on there, so those are always welcome,” Henry said. “But in our next upcoming newsletter, the class of 2028 will have a Google form where they can fill out any questions or concerns. One of the representatives will get back to you within a week.”
