Finding love in leadership, corgis and Whoopi Goldberg – Tarren Jessop
Tarren Jessop, USUSA Student Alumni Association Vice President, started at Utah State University as a first-generation college student. Now, as Student Alumni Association VP, she is working to make sure that every Aggie on campus feels qualified and capable after their time at USU.
Jessop has spent the past two years working with the Student Alumni Association and says that is where she has found her home. She enjoys being able to help students create memories and prepare for life as a college graduate.
She is also hoping to bring some fresh perspective to age-old traditions like True Aggie Night. Jessop plans to make True Aggie Night more accessible for disabled students. She explained that just by adding a ramp, more students would be able to make lasting memories.
“It is such a fundamental part of the culture here and one of the biggest traditions in the state,” Jessop said. “The fact that some of our students can’t participate is heartbreaking to me. I think further pushing that boundary with this event, it could be so much more than it is already.”
This innovative attitude is apparent in everything that Jessop pursues on campus. Delaney Gagliano, Jessop’s friend, said that her success comes from her ability to commit one hundred percent of herself.
“She cares about every person she comes in contact with, and she gives everyone a hundred percent of her effort,” Gagliano said. “Everything she does in her life, she is a hundred percent giving it her all.”
When she’s not working on SAA projects, Jessop loves to laugh and have a good time. She enjoys spending time with her close group of friends, doing art, eating lemon frosting and cake batter, and reading a good book.
Jessop said she was shy when she was younger, but then she found her zest for life.
“I came to the realization that life is way more fun when you don’t care what people think. Life is too serious to be anything but happy,” Jessop said.
Jessop’s friends agreed that she has grown during her time at USU and touched the lives of those around her.
Kyle Hacking, another friend of Jessop’s, said, “It has been cool to see her confidence grow and how much more willing she is to understand that she has good ideas and can truly make a difference in people’s lives.”
Jessop hopes that she can instill some of this confidence into future leaders on campus as well. She said that thanks to her mentors, she has been able to learn that “a real leader is someone who makes everyone feel like a someone.”
In the future, Tarren sees herself attending grad school for her degrees in psychology and sociology. She hopes that she will also own a corgi, meet Whoopi Goldberg, and leave her legacy at Utah State.
“She really is one of the most caring, kind, giving, and compassionate people I’ve met in my life,” said Hacking. “A person who is lucky enough to be friends with her is truly better off because of it.”
—shelby.black@aggiemail.usu.edu
@shelbsterblack