|
Jeff Jenkins
Candidate for Student Government Association President, April 14, 2003
My name is Jeff Jenkins, affectionately known as "Jinco." Hopefully that will appear on the ballot for everyone to check me off. I'm glad so many of you could make it out to this "blockbuster" event. I realize that unlike the formal, we didn't have transportation, so I was kind of expecting a low head count.
This evening I'm not going to get up here and give the same speech that we've heard from president to president to president to president. I'm not going to speak about things like fighting for students' rights or kicking trustees in the butt. I think we're over a lot of those things.
I do want to talk about three things that bear on my past, present, and what I see the future here has for Mars Hill.
In the past I've been a member of a six-time cross-country conference championship team, where I've been a member of the All-Conference team twice. We've also qualified this past year for the (NCAA Division 2) national meet. We competed there and did relatively well. I've served as a Student Ambassador. I was a Bonner Scholar for a while, where I got to do hundreds of hours of community service work, so that was excellent. And I've also been a member of a conference champion track team.
It is from these experiences that I've learned a good work ethic. I'd like to characterize the cross-country experience with the three D's: Dedication, Discipline, and Desire. It is these things that allow a runner to be effective on the course, as well as in life. It is these adjectives that can be also applied to a good president.
I've also learned from these previous experiences how to manage my time well, balance multiple schedules. I've learned teamwork and how to count on others to get things done. Because you know I'm not God. I can't do it all.
Presently I'm serving as parliamentarian of the student government. I'm a member of the Athletic Committee, which is currently developing a proposal to create an absentee policy for professors and students to follow that will not only impact athletes but will impact chorus and band and cloggers - other organizations on campus that represent the school.
I'm also an intern for the dean of students, and I've helped organize under him the Mock Sexual Harassment Trial. I've also been involved with other undisclosable projects that I could tell you about but I'd have to kill you. So ask me about them after Tuesday when you vote for me. Finally, I've aided in making sure that the Spring Formal was the success that it was.
From these things I learned how Senate should be run. I've seen from Executive Board meetings what a president goes through in dealing with issues outside of Senate - such as trustees, faculty and staff. And understanding this requirement for a good president, I feel that I already have a good start on this because I have made connections and relationships with people like Henry Haywood, who heads up facilities, and Chuck Williams, who is the head of finance.
And this leads me to my final topic, which is the future. If I am elected president of the student body, I'll work hard at bringing in what I'd like to call a Big Concert. I'm aware that some people on CAB have pushed for an increase in their budget, and I'd like to try and use the presidency to see that happen. That would help us bring in the concerts that we'd all like to see - and we're talking about someone like Edwin McCain or John Mayer or someone that people are going to want to come to.
I'd like to see some little things. Senior rings. Senior tee shirts - little things that develop some school pride and some unity there.
More importantly, I want to build a relationship that's based on mutual respect with the new president. To speak bluntly for a moment, I think we're all aware that the presidency does have some power to effect change. We do have a voice on campus. But really, anything that we do, nothing gets done without the approval of someone above us. What better person to have on our side than the president. It is with this in mind that I want to show the president that as students we are competent. We do ask for things that are reasonable. And with him, virtually no one can deny us what we want.
And I have two extremely good ideas to get this relationship started off. One of those is repainting the lion paws on Athletic Street. Now that may not seem like a very big deal to anyone, but those things create a certain kind of unity and a certain atmosphere at the campus. For example, Highway 123 that leads into Clemson University has tiger paws all the way down the highway, and you're driving down the road and you see them and you start to get excited, like now we're getting close - this is awesome! We could have that here. They're kind of starting to fade. I'd like to see them done very well this time, get some stencil, make sure that it has time to dry, so cars don't drive over it, things like that. Though this might be an ambitious goal, I wouldn't mind seeing that come all the way up 213 once we get off, but we'll start with Athletic Street and see where we can go from there.
The big thing I'd like to see done this year, the big project, is what is called Brick Day. As Frank said earlier, not all ideas are original, so I can't take credit for this one either. But it's something I feel is a very good idea. The idea behind this is to have everyone on campus - faculty, staff, students, dedicate a day to laying bricks on the quad. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it's either us or the inmates. I figured we'd be the ones. Essentially I'd like it to count for service hours. Maybe it would be an IGC event - have a lot of people come out there and have fun doing it. Bring in some music, have an open mike, so faculty and students can perform some of their many many talents. Because I'd personally pay to see Dr. Peery … But you've all seen the non-existence of a cohesive style of walkway, not to mention you know the disrepair of the steps. We won't go there. But Brick Day's goal is to begin that cohesiveness. We'll lay the bricks around the Quad and eventually hope to see them leading all over campus. This will add that sense of unity to the campus, some beauty to the campus to attract new students.
This list of goals I've laid out here is not inclusive, but it is a start. The difference between me and my opponents is that I am a man of action. I have specific goals that are neither from Outer Space nor repetition. They are obtainable goals, and I have the means to see them done and done swiftly. Thank you for your time, and I remind you that the polls are open on Tuesday.
HOME
| 
