Her Campus TAMU: What is your major, hometown, and class year?
David Fait: I am a junior industrial distribution major from Keller, Texas. Class of 2017.
HCTAMU: Tell me about some of your involvement at Texas A&M.
DF: I would say the most important thing I’m involved in is Paradigm: Forging Model Men of Aggieland. We are a brand new men’s organization on campus focused on leadership development, and I was one of the founding members. We just started up in November of [2015], and this is our first full semester as an organization. Other than that, I’m on the club handball team–we’re coming up on our college nationals in a couple of weeks–and I’ve been a member of Fish Camp for the past two years; I was also in the Orientation Leader Program bringing in freshmen.
HCTAMU: What motivated you to start a new men’s organization?
DF: Looking at the landscape of men’s organizations on campus, I thought there was room for one with a different niche and room for more men’s organizations in general. I don’t think that they had enough representation and enough opportunities for guys to get involved with a good group of men. I knew some guys who were also interested in it. Some of them had maybe tried to get into another men’s organization and it didn’t work out, and some had just expressed the sentiment of wanting to do a men’s organization.
HCTAMU: What would you say is the niche provided by Paradigm, as compared to other men’s organizations?
DF: Like I said, our focus is on leadership development and a lot of organizations say that they develop leaders as a function of their organizations, however, we want to do it explicitly as the primary function of our organization. A couple of the things we do to do this are bringing in guest speakers who have valuable experiences to provide and allow our members to step into situations and lead by taking a group and planning an event. We really make it focused on the general members having a voice and having an opportunity to step into those leadership roles; it’s not just about elected officers doing everything and regular members following orders.
HCTAMU: Since it is spring, many new Fish Camp counselors are already looking to prepare themselves to welcome the class of 2020. Is there any advice you might have for them?
DF: I would say the most important thing to remember about being a fish camp counselor is that you’re there for the freshmen. No matter what, through Fish Camp you are going to develop great friendships with the people you are also counselors with; but the primary purpose of why you’re there is to bring in the class of 2020 for this year and make them comfortable being part of the Aggie family, and spread your love of Texas A&M by making them have the easiest transition possible. The focus is on them, not you and the counselors.
HCTAMU: Lastly, are there any hobbies that you have outside of your organizations?
DF: I consider myself a pretty musical person. I used to drum, and I play a little bit of guitar now. Other than that, I like sports–both watching and playing–videogames and beer. Pretty classic dude stuff!