About a year ago, I had the hilarious honor of meeting Madeleine Bodiford at one of our first Mock Trial general body meetings. Within the first five minutes of chatting with her, she had done three different impressions of people – and I was cackling. Ever since then, I’ve known that I could always count on her for advice and laughter. All of our friends know one thing – she’s going to do big things.
Courtesy: The Legacy Party
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Ms.Bodiford yet, you’re living under a rock. She’s majoring in Political Science and recently added Psychology as her second major. She was almost a Vocal Performance major in the College of Music, but decided that her passion was going to law school (a multitalented star!). Madeleine told me that she became interested in SGA once she started to learn more about finance and inclusivity on campus. When I asked her about that, she said “I know that there are groups and people on this campus who don’t feel like their needs are being heard in our student government – and I’m running because I want to change that. Every person’s voice on this campus matters equally.” Ms.Bodiford is running with The Legacy Party for this same reason – she feels that they are working to make this the most inclusive campus possible. “Their drive to see more accessibility on campus, cultural appreciation, transparency in student government and sustainability on campus really drew me in, but it was their passion for keeping FSU’s legacy strong that sealed the deal for me.” From her smile and shirt, I can tell that Madeleine is tremendously proud of this party’s platform.
Courtesy: Madeleine Bodiford
Aside from running for Senate, I asked Madeleine about what she does in her free time. When I asked, she just looked at me and burst into laughter. We both spend an absurd amount of time at mock trial practice, so it was a given – the other half of the time she spends at her job. She works at Bodiford Law, her father’s law firm. In fact, Joe Bodiford (one of the best criminal defense attorneys in town) inspired her to become a lawyer. It’s from him that she learned about systemic inequalities in our judicial system. However, her drive to correct those inequalities on campus comes from her innate nature to care about others, especially at Florida State. In fact, as a Tallahassee native, I was surprised that she still sees the marvel of the university.
In her downtime, you can find Madeleine hiding in her apartment watching Grey’s Anatomy or eating her weight in tacos at Tin Lizzy’s. She also tries to go to Sustainability Committee meetings as much as she can because she loves their platforms and goals. As she habitually says, “save the turtles, xoxo”.
In the future, Madeleine hopes to become a private criminal defense attorney. For that to happen, she’s hoping to do well on the LSAT soon. And to start on her path to making the world a more inclusive place, now she’s running for Student Senate Undergraduate Studies Seat 5 with The Legacy Party! Make sure to vote for Madeleine on Wednesday, October 16th!
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