{"id":1004,"date":"2011-04-06T17:31:15","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T00:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/studentlife\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2011-04-06T17:31:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T00:31:15","slug":"1004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/2011\/04\/06\/1004\/","title":{"rendered":"ASUPS leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hey everyone.\u00a0 I\u2019m new at this whole journaling\/blogging thing, so please have a bit of patience while I get my bearings over the first few posts.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really a technology whiz, and you can confidently expect more than a few HTML mishaps and mistakes.\u00a0 Yet while I\u2019m not usually a proponent of the \u201cpractice makes perfect\u201d aphorisms, I think in this situation it actually applies.\u00a0 At least a bit.<\/p>\n

Anyways, moving on from the apologetic introit.\u00a0 My name is Marcus Luther, and in case you didn\u2019t know\u2014and I know that most don\u2019t\u2014I\u2019m the new Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound President (we\u2019ll use the term \u2018ASUPS\u2019 from this point forward, to avoid arthritis).\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, though, that this journal\/blog will consist entirely of ASUPS propaganda and event notices; that is not the goal.\u00a0 I simply hope to convey what life is like for a student in this position, what my normal day is like, how the ASUPS office works, some of the issues that come across my desk, and how it impacts the rest of my life.\u00a0 If you\u2019re yawning already\u2014well, we\u2019ll get back to that later.<\/p>\n

So how does one become ASUPS President, one might ask?\u00a0 Well, since I was twelve years old and watched The West Wing for the first time, I knew that my life goal was to be student body president of my eventual fill-in-the-blank uni<\/p>\n

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Awkward-Smirk Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

versity.\u00a0 From that point forward, everything I did was geared towards eventually assuming the seat I now occupy: practicing shaking hands, giving grandiose speeches into the mirrors, making my own business cards with Sharpe markers and construction paper, etc.<\/p>\n

Kidding.\u00a0 Though I\u2019m addicted to that show.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I came to Puget Sound to play baseball\u2014I had no preconceived, student government ambitions.\u00a0 Actually, until Garner Lanier approached me last semester, I really hadn\u2019t thought much about the position.\u00a0 I have been involved in Residence Life the past two years, am involved in numerous activities, am a member of Phi Delta Theta, etc.\u2014basically, I have a full schedule already and wasn\u2019t looking to take more on.<\/p>\n

But being good friends with Dan Miller (the past ASUPS President), I got curious.\u00a0 I started having conversations with all the current Execs, some faculty and administrators, and a lot of my closer friends.\u00a0 The more I learned, the more I started wanting a chance to fulfill this role and make a difference on campus.\u00a0 Thus far, my college experience has been an irreplaceable asset in my life, and I\u2019m infinitely grateful for the opportunity I\u2019ve been afforded\u2014I saw ASUPS as the best way to give back.<\/p>\n

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Awkward-Laughing Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

So after getting excited, I worked with Garner to make it happen.\u00a0 This was a long, rigorous phase (despite the lack of opposition, we treated it as if it were a nail-biter election) that included forming a campaign platform, learning more about individual position requirements, speaking to student groups, creating\/putting up posters and Facebook groups, and more.<\/p>\n

By the way, I hate taking campaign photos.\u00a0 Actually, I hate taking photos in general.\u00a0 Doing a three-hour photo shoot around campus was like having my teeth pulled, then going to the doctor and getting multiple vaccination shots.\u00a0 And seeing those photos around campus over the next month?\u00a0 That was like swallowing a five-pound pill twice-a-day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a big self-promotion guy, especially via photos\/posters.\u00a0 However, that\u2019s part of the job, especially the election part.<\/p>\n

After all that, we were elected.\u00a0 And then inaugurated March 10th.\u00a0 And that is how I got here.<\/p>\n

In essence, the process simply consisted of me getting interested, educating myself about the potential opportunity, then spending three months making it happen.\u00a0 I would definitely encourage anyone interested in running to really consider it, and to talk to as many people as possible (including me!) about whether or not it is the right opportunity for you.<\/p>\n

Thus far, it has been an incredible experience.\u00a0 And I cannot think of a better way to give back to the school that has already given me so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey everyone.\u00a0 I\u2019m new at this whole journaling\/blogging thing, so please have a bit of patience while I get my bearings over the first few posts.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really a technology whiz, and you can confidently expect more than a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marcus-luther-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}