USUSA incumbent president announces second run
Sami Ahmed is the current student body president at Utah State University and is running again in this year’s student body officer elections.
Linda Zimmerman, executive director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, said it’s not unusual to see USU Student Association officers run again but for a different position.
Dexton Lake, for example, was the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences senator and ran for USUSA executive vice president last year.
However, running twice for student body president isn’t that common.
“I believe that if Sami does declare for candidacy this year, he will be the third president that I know of that has re-run for a second term,” Zimmerman said.
“Once declaration is over and we can officially share who is running,” Zimmerman continued. “We will see how many current officers run for another position or re-run for the same position.”
Ahmed is dedicating the year 2020 to 2021 to finish what he started when he was elected in the spring semester of 2019.
“In order to stay on a solid foundation, I felt like I needed to take up a second term,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said throughout this year he has gotten to know his position and knows exactly what he wants to do in this upcoming election.
He also doesn’t want to leave the projects he is working with at the end of his term because he fears the next person won’t have his same passions and desire to finish it.
Ahmed has been working on making the portal for USU students more resource-friendly for those individuals who may be seeking information about mental health, sexual assault prevention and other resources.
“That’s more than a year project,” Ahmed said. “It’s the main reason why I’m staying.”
He believes the portal has great information for students and is working to update it to make it better.
One of his most recent projects he finished was making scholarship applications more accessible.
“Let’s just put the ad up on the banner and make it interactive,” Ahmed said. “So you can click on it, and it takes you to where you need to apply.”
Ahmed believes every student can be successful if they have the right resources. He said he got to where he is in life because of the right people and the right resources.
“I’m really passionate about understanding the barriers to information students have and breaking that and helping them get every advantage possible here at Utah State,” Ahmed said. “If I can get those resources in front of students, a lot more students will find great jobs, great internships and great friendships.”