Lanier Henson
Why did you apply for this position?
I applied for the position of President on the SGA Executive Board after a great deal of consideration for what I thought would be best for the Student Government and then in turn the student body as a whole. I believe that as President of the SGA Executive Board my ability to fairly represent the greatly varying students who make up the GSU community.
How do you plan to manage the pressure and responsibility that comes with representing over 32,000 students?
Being a Representative for over 32,000 students creates a great deal of pressure and responsibility, but I plan on handling it the same as I have this year as Vice President of Student Services. The key to properly managing this pressure is recognizing your personal limitations, while simultaneously being willing to make the sacrifices necessary to meet the needs of the student body.
What previous experiences prepared you for this position and how?
The Student Government President has many responsibilities such as co chairing University Committees, organizing Organization united, and fairly representing the student body as a whole. In the last year I have served as voting members on these committees, helped with the planning and running of Organizations United, and met with faculty or staff to explain the student body’s point of view on various issues. Because of my involvement with these tasks this year I believe the transition to president will be made easily.
What do you think sets you apart from the other applicant?
I believe that my wide range of involvement with organizations across campus and my experience within the Student Government since freshman year set me apart from the other applicant. Understanding the needs and concerns while having the experience with the Student Government will allow me to best serve the student body.
How do you think the experience obtained from holding this position will help you later on in life?
My plans after graduating from Georgia State with a Geology degree is to work as a Geo Technical engineer for an environmental engineering company. I have met with the President of some local firms and a common concern that firm face with science technicians are their lack of experience with a business setting.
On a lighter note, who are you? What’s your background and what do you like to do for fun?
I was raised not far from Georgia State in Snellville Georgia for most of my life after my Dad decided to retire from the Army allowing us to stop relocating every four years. While I was still at South Gwinnett High school I was heavily involved with my youth groups at church, marching band, and becoming an Eagle Scout. Since joining college I join Kappa Sigma, and through this experience I have become involved with organizations across campus such as black sophomore society, colleges against cancer, and other greek chapters.
What are you looking for in an Executive Vice President?
I believe it is important that an executive vice president be someone who is organized, professional, and processes excellent interpersonal skills. These are all characteristics that any executive vice president needs to pocess, but in addition the individual needs to be someone who can both support and work along side the president.
What are some of your goals; what would you like to accomplish during your year in office if you are elected?
As president I want to promote a greater since of panther pride through unifying the student body in order to allow us to more easily react the the needs of the students, such as creating a 24 hour study space, finding safety solutions for students, and increasing our academic value.
If you win the election what’s the very first thing you’ll do?
If I was to when the election the first thing I will do is begin organizing the summer retreat and our fall calendar. This might not sound like a huge task, or even important to some, but since the president begins working in May before the other vice presidents or senators they can have everything organized before the rest of the Student Government arrives in order to allow everyone to quickly start working on their individual platforms. If we aren’t careful about scheduling our senate meetings, organizations united, and town halls we won’t be able to serve the student body like we should.
Ashley Uzamere
Why are you trying to get this position?
First, I am already the current Executive Vice President and just with the different things me and Andrew Whyte, the current president, has enacted, I would still like to see things be taken further. For example, we passed new bill templates for different resolutions that need to come in through the Senate. We have piloted Organizations United. We have collaborated with campus events to try to get the students together. And now that Andrew is graduating in May and me and Andrew always being together and working together all the time, it would be really good to see the questions and the concerns of the students be answered next year. I just on what was already started in my short term of Executive VP.
What concerns did you see from the students?
At town hall meetings we saw different concerns. It’s kind of more so that students want in the know about money for our credits, different student fees, co-sponsorship form, different housing questions they have. There were numerous questions that they had asked me at the town hall meetings that kind of brought us in to things like, “I didn’t know you guys were in the positions that you are in the positions that you are in.” “I’m in a class with you every Tuesday and Thursday and I didn’t know that you was in SGA. It’s just making us more visible, making us more tangible, making sure that the office is friendlier and inviting so people can submit complaints, concerns, and suggestions.
The number one goal is definitely to make us more united as a campus. Organizations United had our first meeting last and basically and its kind of because every organization on campus works for separate entities. Our main goal is to once a month bring the presidents of every organization we could possibly touch and meet Georgia State chartered organizations. When we come together we put our events on a calendar to make sure that some events aren’t doubling up others. We are changing times to make sure that we support each other’s events as panther family. Doing things like to make SGA more inclusive.
What would you say is your most notable accomplishment?
Even though I know SGA has a lot of work to do just as any other organization and government, I would say two things. One, when we represented Georgia State at the Capitol and heard President Becker and lots of high profile people that with Georgia State and now work with the Capitol. They said that they were pleased with us and we represented Georgia State well. They said that all of the VPs, including President Whyte, spoke eloquently and represented Georgia State in a great way. That was the highlight of the term, because as a government type of organization we get a lot of complain. We a lot of letters, people submitting emails about things they want to change. And we very seldomly get commended for what we do.
Check it once is Organizations United. This was eventually President Whyte’s idea. This is what he ran on when he ran in last spring. To actually see it come into fruition. To go to the first Organization United meeting. To see all the organizations of so many divisions come together in one accord. To make Georgia State more inclusive was a notable accomplishment.
How do you plan on fostering more student interest in SGA?
I remember when I was a freshman and I was in an FLC called Emerging Leaders. The thing that I loved was when older upperclassmen student leaders came and talked to us about opportunities that lie ahead. It goes to show that me and President Andrew were both in Emerging Leaders when we were freshmen. Isn’t now it a surprise that we are both on the Executive Board of SGA. And many others.
For example, the previous president before Andrew Whyte, Marcus Cummerband, was also an emerging leader. It’s just making sure that we reach out to freshmen. Whether we are collaborating with housing to go to RA programs and to make sure that we are fostering people to become more active. I really believe that it starts with freshmen.
Like, Last year President Whyte was speaking at Incept. Just things like that to make sure that transfer students and freshmen students understand the different opportunities as far as student involvement in campus life. Another thing we did was especially for freshman students to get positions. We created 12 positions all together. Usually freshman students never get to be on SGA, but now we let them plunge in and become a volunteer and things like that to kind of get their feet wet to how SGA works.
What is your ultimate career goal?
I want to do so many things. My major is Psychology Pre-med. So, my main goal is to go to school and become a doctor. I want to go back to Nigeria and build hospitals and make sure that there is health care reform because health care is very very terrible in a third world country. And it’s not just Nigeria. So that’s my main goal to be an advocate for health care change in third world countries.
How does your major tie into SGA?
I love this questions. A lot of people are like, “Oh my god. You’re pre-med and you are in SGA.” With SGA, you learn so many things, from leadership skills to speaking to organizing to leading. You learn so many things that can be used in any field. For example, we went to the Capitol and we are talking to the legislatures about reforming our school. It’s the exact same way that hospital directors at Grady talk about reforming insurance plans. New skills from organizations like SGA can be placed in any type of position, because you are learning leadership, you are learning about politics, you are learning that there is an order to things.
