Know Your Reps: SA Elections chair

Senior political science major Ryan Quinn has been a member of the Student Association (SA) since his sophomore year. Quinn said he first joined as a member of the Elections Committee and has held chair of the committee ever since. In his senior year, Quinn has become an active member in the General Assembly (GA) and in the SA office in the Williams Center.

What kind of regrets do you have in SA?
“I think my biggest regret is that I didn’t join sooner. I guess I didn’t know how it worked and each student government is different and it just was intimidating. But I guess my biggest regret was not joining earlier and I didn’t attend the GA meetings starting when I was a freshman.”

Do you think it is intimidating for freshmen to join?
“I don’t think it’s as intimidating as it is. They just don’t know how to join. I think that pretty much everyone in SA has been brought into it through a friend. I was brought in through a friend and I’ve tried to return that favor all the time. When you see someone who you think would be good for the position and it’s almost your responsibility to open the door and bring them into the committee. Everyone in there has a personal story how they were brought in.”

How would you compare this year to others in the past?
“It’s really been different in the fall. It was very intense. We saw a change within the Executives and you seen a lot of new people join this year. Right now you see a lot of seniors graduating but you see a solid freshman class joining in and I think that they will be ready to take over. The main thing I’ve noticed is that there are a lot of new people joining and a lot more involvement outside just the SA. Look at the changes. The court had to add new people. The elections and rules all extended the numbers of people they have on the committee and if you look at the rules you’ll see it’s definitely branched out and grown.”

What would you say to the new freshman class coming in?
“I would say participate and don’t be discouraged by SA and to remember that you are there to serve the campus and you should always try and make the place better than the way you found it. And you should leave knowing that you’ve made a difference.”

Do you think you’ve made a difference?
“Yes, I would say that the Elections Committee has finally found its footing and place in SA since my time there. I think that it [has] found its voice and that it can’t be contributed to one individual but also it’s a new committee. It doesn’t just fall under the speaker or the executive, it’s kind of its own thing. You can contribute to one thing.”

What do you think about SA’s future?
“I think that the future is bright. I think its best days are yet to come and it’s always changing and trying to fit the circumstances, and that is good because it can really work for what people want. But I think everyone involved in the Student Association is proud of what it is and what it can become.”

What direction do you think SA should heads towards?
“I think the biggest thing to conquer next is communications, because SA is just the group of all groups and I think that it should become more involved with the groups’ E-boards even though I don’t think they are involved with the groups as they should be. I think that amongst the groups, the cabinets and the reps, all of us come from different backgrounds and that’s good, but also you don’t want it to be too separated, if you look at what happens each time since the students have come to the elections it has steadily increased.”

What are you plans now that you are graduating?
“I think that anyone involved with SA, it puts them in a place where to better communicate and the ins and outs of legislating and better communication and being productive. I think I will take those skills and use them next. I plan on looking to go into some sort of a public administration school and I haven’t decided where I’m going next year.”

So there is no set future for you right now?
“I think that as long as I can live in the future, knowing that I made a difference, I think I would be satisfied. I’ll go wherever life takes me. It’s good not to have set plans sometimes, but having set plans put you towards a direction to heads towards. But you can’t have all your plans set; that is restricting yourself in the future.”

Did you ever think you would make it this far at Fredonia?
“No I didn’t. I was heavily involved in my High School student government. I was Student Council President and it’s a lot of pressure. I thought that I would start off focusing on my work but it changed during my sophomore year and how I acted. Once you stay on campus you appreciate the students and the community more and you learn to want to leave your imprint. If you told me as a freshman I wouldn’t have known.”

What is the last thing you want to say to your fellow Fredonia students?
“I think the most important thing is to be active on your campus and your community no matter what you’re doing it through. It could be your government. It could be your clubs and groups. Just be active on your campus because if your not, all you’re experiencing is the class. I think for people in college it’s more than classes, it’s about the interaction and the social part of it that we develop. It’s about the students interacting with us and about setting up for the real world.”