2021-2022 USUSA officers inaugurated
The Utah State University Student Association officers for the 2021-2022 school year were inaugurated in a ceremony on Friday.
The inauguration opened with a speech from former USU student body President Sami Ahmed, who shared some advice to incoming officers from what he learned during his two-year service as president.
Ahmed then introduced James Morales, the vice president of student affairs at USU.
Morales opened his speech by congratulating the incoming student officers and expressing gratitude for the time he was able to spend with the outgoing officers.
Morales told the audience about his penchant for telling bedtime stories to his four grandchildren, telling a story about two leaders— one who cared about his people, but could never come up with the answers and one who came up with answers, but had no commitment from her employees. Morales said the moral of this story is that the “most effective leaders lead with their heart, and they lead with their head.”
“To you outgoing officers and to our incoming officers as well, I hope you’ll remember this story,” Morales said. “I hope you’ll remember its moral. I hope that you will practice leadership with both your heart and your mind. I promise you that if you do so, you will be successful as a USUSA officer throughout this coming year and also throughout the rest of your lives.”
USUSA’s Vice President for Student Affairs, James Morales.
Ahmed then invited all incoming officers to the stage. Incoming officers were called up individually and given an individualized gift bag. After all incoming officers were called to the stage, Ahmed swore in 2021-2022 Student Body President Lucas Stevens. Stevens then inaugurated the other incoming officers.
Once all incoming officers were inaugurated, Stevens closed the ceremony with a brief speech.
Stevens spoke to three aspects of his tenure that he said he is “especially excited for”— preserving and refining the Aggie experience, creating a more inclusive campus culture and realizing the unity of all USU students on every campus.
Stevens said that this year’s group of incoming officers is tasked with rewriting all of their charters and redefining what USUSA will be moving forward. He expressed confidence that “that responsibility is in good hands.”
Stevens is especially looking forward to working closely with inclusion organizations on campus to help students from all backgrounds find a home at USU. He wants to make it a focus of the tenure to make the third floor of the Taggart Student Center— where USUSA offices are located— a more inclusive place. He also said he will accept “any challenges” for ping-pong games on the third floor of the TSC.
Stevens said he is most excited to unify the 27,000 students studying at statewide campuses across Utah and working with statewide and EUSA officers to make sure all student voices are heard.
“We can unify the student body,” Stevens said. “We can create a more inclusive campus culture, and we can reach out to students that haven’t previously been reached.”
Stevens closed his speech by saying he “doesn’t have words to describe” his feelings about what is to come from this group of incoming officers and thanked them in advance for their service.
-darcy.ritchie@usu.edu
@darcyrrose