It is my experience that many students don’t have the slightest clue what Student Government does, or what their purpose is. The amount of unbelievably important and life-altering subjects that they deal with on a daily basis affects all of us on some level, and it makes me 100% reassured that THESE people are making those decisions. When Jerry O’Sullivan asked if I could leave for New Orleans, Louisiana, in less than twenty-four hours, I was only speechless for approximately the eight seconds it took him to tell me that he had already sought permission from my adviser at The Times. O’Sullivan then told me that it would be a great opportunity if I chose to travel down there with him and members of the Student Government.
Of course, I needed no sale . how could I say no to not only a vacation to one of the most well-known cities in the world but the opportunity to take part in activities that I found to be important on so many different levels? Not to mention, this was a dream assignment for me and a great challenge at the same time.
So I found myself at the airport the next day, introducing myself to student after student, worried that as a journalist and non-Student Government member, my fellow travel-mates would be wary of me, question my presence among them, or exclude me. I basically had every concern a child has on their first day at a new school.
I was immediately struck by the kindness and openness of each new person that made it through security and found our gate (naturally I was incredibly early, only beaten by one other person, in an effort to impress.) They seemed genuinely happy to meet me, the outsider who seemingly had appeared out of nowhere, and offered me any help they could give during and after the trip with anything I published concerning this conference and other happenings in New Orleans.
When I got on the plane, I spent the majority of the trip talking to the students seated immediately around me, all from other MATC campuses and total strangers to me.
By the time we landed in Louisiana, they had offered me so much helpful information I was starting to wonder if they were only being so benevolent because they had high hopes of having their picture in The Times and figured they had a better chance if they were friendly with the journalist.
I figured they all jumped at the chance to help load our suitcases onto the shuttle that was taking us to our hotel so we could get there more quickly and unloaded them into the lobby in the same manner so we could get to dinner quickly.
It was at dinner that I first realized, these people were not friendly and helpful for their own personal gain, they were friendly and helpful because that was just who they were-what a baffling notion in the world today!
These are the people who stop to make sure everyone in their group is accounted for. These are the people who almost physically spot someone with a problem and beeline toward the solution.
These are the people who are giving not to benefit themselves, but everyone else. They carried heavy coolers full of food in hot weather, cleaned up after themselves after eating at a public area, offered assistance to anyone and everyone on a constant basis AND NO ONE EVER ASKED THEM TO IN THE FIRST PLACE.
I am entirely grateful that this was the group of people I experienced heart-wrenching things with and worked alongside of during one of the most humbling and eye-opening experiences of my life.
I am relieved to know that these are the people who are lobbying for lowered cost of textbooks and making wise choices when it comes to finances being allotted toward programs at school.
It is a calming thought to know that when a problem presents itself, level, unselfish, and considerate heads are the ones being put together to come to a fair result.
From the Student Government member who performed a technological miracle for me in the backwoods of Louisiana on an old school bus with nothing in it for himself to the Student Government member whose shoulder I cried on at 2:30 in the morning in the hotel hallway even though he was exhausted and wanted to sleep, to the Student Government member who, having never met me before the day we left, turned to me out of concern on a sidewalk to tell me that she cared: Thank you for showing me who is behind some of the biggest decisions in our school, the ones that affect me and my future as well as everyone else’s.
Mostly, thank you for being so strong in who you are that I can step back and easily, without a doubt, tell the entire student body at MATC that we are all in good hands.
