Open Letter to the Student Body:
My name is Jordan Beale, and I am a presidential candidate for Lipscomb’s Student Government Association for the 2015-2016 school year. I grew up in a small town in Western Kentucky on a farm. I am majoring in biochemistry, with hopes of one day moving on to medical school.
My story at Lipscomb:
I came to Lipscomb without knowing anyone, and I intentionally searched for ways to change that as quickly as possible. When I heard about SGA, it sounded like a golden opportunity to get involved. During my freshman year and fall semester of my sophomore year, I served as a senator on SGA. I quickly learned the pace of meetings, proposals and voting, but more than anything, I experienced the amount of time and compassion these procedures required. I gained a huge respect for the organization as well as the individual leaders.
A large part of my involvement, though, was on the spiritual life committee. We wanted to see a greater community growing, specifically through intentional conversations and small reminders. We planned many daily events as well as late-night devotionals. I gained a lot of experience by seeing passion come to fruition through hard work and camaraderie. I specifically met with the chapel office to discuss ideas and give them student feedback.
In my opinion, the only way to be an effective leader is to understand the people you are serving. One of the best ways for me is to be involved in many facets of campus. Throughout the past three years, I have been a part of Greek life, campus recreation, academic clubs, Relay for Life and Quest Team. Because of my experience and involvement on campus, I have the ability to recognize the changes that will best benefit students, the dedication to listen to the student body and convey their ideas to the administration in an effective way.
My goals for the year:
Two of the most important focuses of SGA is communication and community. Neither of these points can be improved without the ideas of students being heard. My goal is to ultimately weave these together to strengthen Lipscomb’s campus.
I promise to continuously instigate conversation, work on legislation, promote plans and practically fight tooth and nail to see BIG change on campus. I would like to work closely with administration to discuss more affordable education. My idea is a potential tuition lock-in for four years. This hopefully will increase student satisfaction, increase the retention rate and be a strong admission’s selling point. I plan to approach the issues surrounding housing’s current shortcomings. I believe that there are many options for solution to address the problem, such as increasing privileges of upperclassmen living on campus, encouraging renovations and working closely with the housing department. I intend to work on the advising process. I would love to see more staff involved in working with students to achieve their goals in a timely and relaxed manner.
Above everything else, I believe that the chief responsibility of SGA president is to be an involved, spiritual leader of this campus. This can be challenging because one has to balance representing the diverse student body with Lipscomb’s policies. I promise to always strive to be that person.