USU Extension student body president’s life a ‘juggling act’
Janae Burger is as busy as any other mother with three kids under 6, but she also is in charge of 1,200 other students. Serving as the student body president of the Brigham City Extension campus, Burger plans activities and programs for the area’s students and manages to do it all while raising her own family.
Taking care of her family, attending school, having a husband in the military and serving as the student body president 10-20 hours per week seems like an impossible feat. “It’s a juggling act,” Burger said.
When her husband was deployed four years ago, Burger was left with two small children and found herself “extremely lonely and bored.” She said she had always had a dream of returning to school to obtain her degree, but when she started back, she had no idea she would continue. Burger said she did continue on and became involved with student government her second year, sticking with it through, this, her senior year.
“I’ve always had my opinion,” she said, noting that now she is using that opinion, along with the opinions of the rest of the student bod, to make a difference.
BC Extension Executive Director Andy Shinkle said, “She is a tremendous help to the students. She is concerned about the welfare of the students and is an advocate for their voice.” Burger said she enjoys staying busy and wouldn’t trade the distraction it brings when her husband is deployed. She also said she enjoys helping the students and being able to relate to those who also are raising families while attending school.
She said, “I am actually a first-generation college student, but since I’ve started going [to school], my mother-in-laws returned to school.”
The student government provides eight activities per semester to the Extension student body and their families. The biggest of those activities is “Angels for Christmas,” where Extension sponsors families in need for the holiday. When Burger began working with this program three years ago, she said three families including 21 children were helped. She excitedly said that this year, 196 families with 567 children were able to enjoy Christmas gifts. More than 450 volunteers showed up to help wrap the 2,600 presents, she said. “We had 30 tables deep by five wide piled with presents,” Burger said. She also said the extra 30-40 hours per week were worth it to see how well the program succeeded this year.
Without a moment’s delay, Burger said her favorite part about serving as the student body president is that the executive directors care about the student voice. “As long as it’s reasonable, they let us fly with our ideas. As long as we go to them with a proposal and a good reason, for the most part they are very supportive of the things we want to do,” Burger said. “She instigated the creation of a fitness center and a limited-service bookstore,” Shinkle said of Burger’s contributions to helping the BC Extension to better serve the needs of the students.
“She is a phenomenal person,” former student body president Kiersten Hewitt said. “She gives 110 percent to anything she commits to.”
-albaugh@cc.usu.edu