Maangi, Valerie: President

I like watching films, particularly those that have been adapted from comic books. One that I really like is the Spiderman trilogy. In the first movie, Ben, Spiderman’s uncle tells him that with great power comes great responsibility. When you are the president of a university, you have a lot of power and also a lot of responsibility. Whatever decisions you implement impact the lives of thousands of students. You create a legacy that will be remembered for years by generations to come.  Future presidents will base their leadership by following your example.

Parking is a very big problem in S.A.U. If I were president, I’d build more parking lots in around the buildings in order to alleviate the parking problem. There is a lot of space around Fincher Hall which could be used to solve this. Building a new parking lot will stop people from jostling for the small number of spaces that are there.

For the one and a half years I have been here Aramark, the food company, has been providing meals to the students. However, the meals have not exactly been palatable. The company does not also offer a wide variety of vegetarian dishes for vegetarians. As president, I would make sure that the catering company makes changes to its menu or hire another company to make better meals for the students. Their sometimes overcooked meat and soggy fries are too much for a student handle. Particularly when that student is studying all the time and wants something good to eat.

As an international student, I bear the brunt of having to pay tuition that is slightly higher than that of the average S.A.U. student. Whatever scholarships that are offered are not enough to cover the remaining costs. As president I would increase the amount of scholarships offered to international students so that they are able to afford the high cost of tuition. Also, I would allocate more funds to the College of Science and Technology so that it is able to conduct more research programs.

I believe that with these changes implemented, S.A.U. would become a better and brighter place for all S.A.U. students and would even help to increase the enrollment in the school.