Newly elected SAB president prepares for position

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By Anne Halliwell

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Next year’s SAB president credits a UK event with resetting his career plans.

Jacob Ewing, an integrated strategic communications sophomore, said that Laverne Cox’s visit on Feb. 25 convinced him to make working at a nonprofit for social justice or equal rights his career goal.

“Personally, I love seeing the impact SAB makes on campus,” Ewing said. “Really, for me, the biggest and best perk is seeing how students react to events on campus.”

Ewing was selected as next year’s SAB president, a position he refers to as a “support system for our directors,” after spending two years in the organization.

“Jake started out as a promotion chair,” said finance sophomore and director of SAB in the Halls Abbey Tillman. “Then Jake and I both applied to be directors.”

After being selected to train as the Director of Public Relations, Ewing was unexpectedly called upon to become the full chair a semester early, Tillman said.

“Jake kind of just took the bull by the horns and figured things out,” Tillman said.

Economics senior Adam Carrico, the director of concerts, called Ewing’s appointment a “natural transition.”

“Jake’s definitely a really hard worker,” Carrico said. “He definitely takes initiative on a lot of different projects.”

Ewing said that after two years in the organization and experience in multiple positions, he should be well-qualified to help execute SAB’s vision for the future.

“I know where we’d like to go and how to do those things,” Ewing said.

Ewing is being trained by current president Micaha Dean, who will ensure that he knows the ropes by next year.

“He’s going to be great,” Dean said. “The position has a lot of room to grow, and Jake is a junior, (so) he has time to learn about himself as a leader.”

The next months will focus on communication and developing those leadership skills, Dean said.

As president, Ewing said that he will liaison between administration and SAB’s board of directors, which chooses and executes SAB’s events. He will also work with the directors to ensure that their ideas are brought to fruition and all necessary steps are checked off.

“Whenever he’s talking in front of a room, you just see the passion in his eyes,” Tillman said. “He always has a positive attitude and is like, ‘We’re going to make it work.’”

The board of directors met for a retreat in January and planned for the next year, Tillman said.

“It’s very collaborative,” Dean said. “It’s like any other student organization. It changes from year to year.”

Ewing sai SAB’s executive board is planning on focusing on the four core values of the organization: teamwork, enrichment, diversity and stewardship.

“We’re really rooted within that,” Carrico said, “So that doesn’t change (and) hasn’t changed in a long time.”

Ewing mentioned that scheduling fun and educational events is one area where SAB plans to step up its efforts.

“Another thing that has come up … is really reaching audiences that we are not reaching or haven’t reached in the past,” Ewing said. “Being involved and engaged on campus really does change your academic experience.”

According to Ewing, this will mean targeting nontraditional and off-campus students next year, as well as developing programing that will be of interest to students in the military and in LGBT communities across campus.

“A large portion of our students are off-campus and that is something we struggle with,” Tillman said. “How can you get a poster into every building a student could be in?”

Tillman also said that diversity is something on everyone in SAB’s minds. She said that during one meeting, directors spent 30 minutes filling up a piece of poster board with different audiences to target and barely scratched the surface of all of the groups on campus.

“Defining diversity is something so beyond ethnicity … or sexuality,” Tillman said.

Despite the tasks at hand, Ewing’s coworkers in SAB seem to have faith in his ability to work through the next year.

“Jake is very innovative and is really very futuristic in his thoughts,” Dean said.

Carrico expressed eagerness to see what next year’s group will do from an outside perspective and belief that the “super-talented” group will bring amazing events to campus.

“I’m just so proud of him,” Tillman said. “It’s a group effort, but having such a strong leader for next year, I’m just excited.”

SAB is working on next semester’s programming now, and will continue to do so over the summer, Ewing said.

“Everything that we do in the fall we will already have planned and ready to go,” Ewing said.

Though the positions receive a stipend and compensation for time spent in the office, Ewing said that monetary value doesn’t play into taking the jobs.

“I think that’s what makes our events so special,” Ewing said. “We put so much heart into what we do.”