After an intense campaign process and an exciting election day on April 14th, Maddie Reddick was elected TCU’s Student Body President for the upcoming school year. I sat down with the future “Miss Prez.” and got the inside scoop on everything from TCU’s 2015 Fall Concert to her advice to future candidates running for office. After getting to know Maddie and her goals for her next year as Student Body President, it is obvious she is a confident and selfless leader who will make you proud to be a TCU Horned Frog.
Name: Maddie Reddick
Major: Political Science
Minor: Triple minor in Philosophy, History, and Business. And she’s graduating on time!
Hometown: Edmond, Oklahoma
Year: Junior
Relationship Status: Single
Q: Who is your celebrity crush?
A: “Patrick Dempsey, aka ‘McDreamy’ (RIP).”
Q: Favorite TV show?
A: “Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal. I am all about Shonda Rhimes.”
Q: Favorite food?
A: “Sushi, but I will eat just about everything.”
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Really depends on how I am feeling, but probably Miracle, the hockey movie. I love to watch the scene right before they are about to go in to play the Soviets as a pep talk for myself. I even watched it a few times before I spoke during my campaign.”
Q: If you could have one super power, what would it be?
A: “I would want to be able to teleport. I love to travel, but dislike the travel time/cost. Being able to arrive in places on a whim would make it much easier to both fulfill my dream of traveling the world, while being able to still see the people I love.”
Q: What is your biggest fear going into the Presidency?
A: “Letting down the students. Cody has done a fantastic job with the students. He has set a tone for a very productive and hardworking SGA and Cabinet that looks to improve things in the right direction. I want to continue that and see what we can do to make it better and take on new issues and I think we can do that. When almost 1,400 people vote for you, you don’t want to let them down.”
Q: How do you think the dynamic of a having a female Student Body President will affect the campus?
A: “This campus is majority women and I think it is exciting to have a balance of voices. I also think it is a good thing that we have a male Treasurer and a male VP of Operations. I think having a female perspective as President will be a good thing, especially right now, when a lot of people are looking for females to step up and be leaders. The last time we had a female President was four years ago so I think this will be a nice change. But, I don’t think it is necessarily about the gender. It is more about who can do the best job.”
Q: What are your goals and initiatives for the next year?
A: “One of my main focuses has been on various social issue initiatives. For example, with My Campus and sexual assault, I want to expand this to a bigger discussion by implementing tangible ways to stop sexual assault. I also want to look at mental health. Being at a school that had a couple of suicides last year, which is so tragic, I want to focus on what can we do as a Student Body to help people feel like they are not alone. Over the summer I will be focusing on game days and how to make the game day experience better. And when the Coliseum (basketball center) opens in the fall, I think it would be really cool to screen away games there. Lastly, whatever students bring to me. Over the campaign, students came to me with ideas, so I have a lot of things I am going to start working on to improve the overall student experience.”
Q: What advice would you give to future candidates who want to run?
A: “My advice is to make sure you’re running for the right reasons and not just the title. The title of President is cool, but with the amount of work and effort you are required to give, you have to make sure your heart is in the right place. You have to make sure you are running because you are passionate about serving the Student Body. At the end of the day, you won’t be happy if you are only in it for the title.”
Q: Do you have a life motto or a quote that encouraged you through your campaign?
A: “Hmm.. I would say I think a lot about being ‘all in.’ When I do things, I try to do them 100%. For example, through the campaign I wanted to be able to say, ‘regardless of how this turns out, there is nothing more I could’ve done.’ I ran the best campaign that I could and it was up to the students to decide. I put in the work, the time, the effort, and tried to meet as many people as I could about what I thought a good vision for TCU was. If they bought into that, great, and if not, then the school needs to go in a different direction. So, just giving it all you got.”
Q: What is an interesting fact that not many people know about you?
A: “A fun fact is that I have a stuffed animal shark Pillow Pet that I take with me every trip I travel on. The shark, Toby, named by people at TCU, has been to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, all over Europe, New York, and DC, and all these fun places. People always make fun of me when I take him on trips, but he comes with me everywhere.”
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
A: “Ruth Bader Ginsburg (otherwise known as the notorious RBG – if you don’t know her, look her up because she is incredible). She is the second woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court and was one of nine women in her class at Harvard Law. She has paved the way for gender equality through the legal system and is a very strong role model. I admire her because she sticks to her beliefs in her decisions, but is also respectful of others with whom she disagrees. For example, Antonin Scalia is on the complete other side of the spectrum ideologically, yet they are friends and go to the opera to regularly. Because my absolute dream job is to become a Supreme Court Justice, it would be amazing to be able to pick her brain about her path to the Court, along with her time on the bench.”
Q: Favorite TCU memory so far?
A: “I’d say something fun was bringing Jason Derulo last year. That was awesome. What was really cool about that was it was outside of the box. We got someone who was big- that students were really excited about. And it was great to walk around and have people say, ‘hey thanks for bringing Jason Derulo!’ Students were so excited, and to see everyone in the Commons, pumped about something SGA could bring to them, was really cool and the show was awesome.”
Q: Any leads on the Fall Concert artist?
A: “I can’t talk about it… but we have a list. Let’s just say I am excited.”
Q: Is it going to be bigger than Jason Derulo?
A: “We don’t have a contract signed, so I’m not sure. But JD (Jason Derulo) happened in the fall. When we got his contract (signed) it was late, so hopefully this year’s will be as big or bigger as JD- we’ll see.”
Q: What is your dream career?
A: “I want to go to law school. My grandpa is a judge and in middle school he ran for his judgeship, so I grew up around that election. So seeing what that was like, I am interested in being a lawyer, but I would more so love to be a judge. Hearing both sides of an argument is something I think I do pretty well and determining which side is best.”
Q: If you could tell your freshman-self one word of advice, what would you tell her?
A: “Don’t get discouraged. The beginning of college is difficult as you are trying to find your place, but the beautiful part about that is everyone is in the same boat as you. Everyone is applying for things and putting him or herself out there, and the fact is, you aren’t going to get everything you want, which sometimes makes the transition to college difficult. For example, I really wanted to be in SGA as a freshman, but was turned down by Frog Aides. I thought about giving up on SGA, but now, I’m really glad I didn’t. If I have learned anything, it is that everyone eventually finds their own niche where they both feel comfortable and are challenged to follow their passions. Freshmen, you will find that too, so never give up.”
Q: What legacy do you want to leave as President?
A: “Honestly, I really do not like the legacy question because when I do things I don’t think about how people are going to remember this. When I do, I think, ‘Is this what the students want? Am I doing this for the students? Is this what they need?’ I guess I’d say (I want my legacy to be) someone who works for the students and represents their voice well. I don’t have a big project in mind so that people can say ‘Oh yeah, that’s what Maddie did.’ That’s not how I think. I want to be someone who is accessible to the students and willing to listen to them and work on whatever it is that they need.”
Photo sources: Maddie Reddick