Student body officer electionsPrem Panchal
As part of their application for student body president, vice president and secretary, candidates have been allowed to write commentaries detailing their platforms. Today’s commentaries are written by students campaigning for the office of secretary. Officer elections occur Feb. 26 – 27. Don’t forget to vote!
Hello, SMU! My name is Prem Panchal, and I am running for Student Body Secretary. I am energetic, outgoing and a very hard worker. I offer an abundance of student leadership experience through such organizations as Mustang 11, Student Foundation and Student Senate, as well as a fresh view on our campus issues due to my first-year status.
When I first came to SMU, during my AARO visit, I was simply blown away by the beautiful campus and the lively, positive-minded people I was surrounded by. I had a dream that everything around me at that point would become second nature and soon enough feel like home during my first-year. Slowly but surely I started to meet vast amounts of people, and not just what I would consider ordinary people; they were the types of people I always envisioned my ideal college to have. They were not of one race or one religion. They encompassed many ethnicities and came from very unique backgrounds. I discovered, in myself, a love for the difference in every person; something that no one on this entire campus had except that one individual, that something that made me smile. That dream came true. I am home.
If you ever see me around campus or in class, you will know that it is one of my foremost beliefs that if you come to work with a positive attitude, your co-workers will soon find themselves in a positive light as well. It is contagious. Who would want to work feeling angry or sad? Besides a positive attitude, I bring non-stop energy and whole-hearted passion to anything I’m involved in. Without the drive and the passion to succeed, there is no progress and things become stagnant. Another very important thing I bring is the ability to motivate my peers. In order to get things done anywhere and especially in such a prestigious position as student body secretary, a leader (the secretary) must step up and guide his peers to accomplish the tasks at hand no matter if they are or are not passionate about the issues. It is a leader’s role to get people to do what they don’t want to do and enjoy it. That is my belief and something that I would take pride in: the ability to get things done effectively and in great spirits.
I am excited to help our SMU become more diverse, offer more scholarships, fire up our Mustang pride and take our academic standings to a first-tier level.
