I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with our new SGA leaders Ben Callinder and Dara Ferguson to get to know a little bit more about them both as members of the student body, and its new leaders.
So first, the basics:
Major:
Ben—Political Science, and soon an Economics major or minor
Dara—A double major in Africana Studies and Political Science
Affiliation:
Ben—SAE
Dara—Unaffiliated
Then we got to the more fun stuff:
Favorite Davidson Memory:
Ben—Freshman frolics. Despite the fact that he sprinted instead of marathoned (a rookie mistake), he said he loved the ability to just walk all over campus and go to so many different places, because it allowed him to interact with people he hadn’t been able to before or had never met before.
Dara—The “classic” freshman flickerball. She and her team made it through an undefeated pre-season, although finals were a bit more disappointing. The part that makes it her best memory, aside from the fact that she was getting a lot of exercise during that time, was that it really helped her hall bond and she made a lot of her friends that way.
Dream Job:
“So are we talking real dream job or fun dream job?” Getting down to the real questions. So these are both.
Ben—Real Dream Job: To be mayor of New York, “because it’s such a diverse community and I’ve lived there most of my life and have such a close connection with so many different communities of people.” Fun Dream Job: Wine taster—“I think it would be incredible to be able to tell the quality and year just from a smell or a taste.” He mentioned, however, that the one course that he knows that teaches such a skill (at the Cornell Hotel School), is one that no one passes, because you’re drinking through all the exams.
Dara—Real Dream Job: To open her own not-for-profit law firm in New York City that specializes in helping minority adolescents. She described it as focusing on petty crime with an educational component, working to take on all facets of the issue. Fun Dream Job: Headmistress of her boarding school.
The Tougher Questions:
Why did you want to be on SGA?
Ben—“I was on SGA last year as vice president and when I got back to school I sat in on my first SGA meeting and I kept getting this awkward twitch because I was thinking things but I wasn’t part of the body… It’s something I’m really passionate about and I can’t see myself at Davidson not being a part of it and working to make a change.”
Dara—“ I like to be a bridge builder; I like to sit down and have conversations with anyone, and I realized that there were missing conversations. Being away from the Davidson bubble and then coming back you start to highlight things you want to change, and you realize we need to put Davidson into the world scope.”
Essentially, it is important to both of them to affect change for the better, and as Dara said, “That change starts with the student body.”
What you’re most excited to do on SGA:
Both are focused on the energy and feeling of campus. Ben said, “I want people to get excited when they hear about what Davidson is doing. All of campus beyond SGA, but it begins with SGA.” Dara added that she wanted to create a transparency in SGA. “I want everyone to see what we’re doing and be a part of it. I want us all to unite as wildcats and really understand what that means.”
If I could leave one impact on Davidson it would be…
Given Ben’s complicated medical history, he wants to leave behind “an understanding of the importance of wellness.” It’s crucial to start stripping the taboo from mental illness. He added, “getting up and going through a day where youre depressed is not easy for anyone and I don’t want anyone who goes through that to feel like there’s a stigma attached to it.”
Dara’s choice for impact runs along similar lines of taking care of emotional health: “We need to take a breath and take the chance to meet new people. I feel like Davidson is such a stressful environment that we forget to take time for ourselves and to have fun.” She knows it’s not quite so simple as that: “Everyone always says you shouldn’t be worried about the test, but I’m always going to be worried about the test.” Still, she thinks its crucial to “allow yourself to be a little free, relieve the high stress culture, maybe spend an hour in union just wandering and seeing who you end up talking to.”
And The Hardest Questions:
Favorite Disney Movie:
After directing me to ask Ben first so she could have time to think, when I came back to her, Dara told me she had favorite characters, moments, and scenes for different reasons. Simba is her favorite character, Bambi and Toy Story 3 made her bawl, she made her parents take her to see Finding Nemo in theatres for her birthday, and she loves the scene in Ratatouille where Remy teaches his brother about food, and the “Dig a Little Deeper” scene from The Princess and the Frog.
Ben had more of a favorite Disney TV show, which “is and always will be The Proud Family.” Although favorite movie was a bit tougher, he decided on Aladdin, because he wants a magic carpet.
Guilty Pleasure:
I had all but resigned myself to leaving the student body without the knowledge of their leaders’ guilty pleasures when they finally thought of theirs.
Ben—“I still play Pokemon. I will always pick Squirtle.” At that point Dara jumped in: “Ninetales is so much better.” (Things got tense, but these two are going to make a good team because clearly they can work through their differences.) Ben stuck by Squirtle and said, “I still play a few matches when I can.”
Dara—Cat videos. Cat instagrams (including “Hot Dudes With Cats). Screenshotting things with cats when they appear in Cosmo. Basically, she loves cats.
I had a wonderful time sitting down with Ben and Dara and cannot wait to see where the SGA goes in their capable hands.
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