Well hello Mr. President. At least that is one way you might have greeted John Richardson, the student association president at GWU this past year. Growing up in small town Brunswick Maine and attending a Jewish high school not too far away in Portland, John learned the importance of giving back to his community. Now, this drive did lead him to change his community for the better by running for SA President, but, if you think I am about to say he wants to be the President of the USA, a senator, a governor or be any kind of politician, you thought wrong.
Surprise, John is adamant about working in the clean and renewable energy industry. He has some pretty energizing ideas for GW, but also about his future. He aims to work on large scale grid projects involving millions of dollars that will surely result in plenty of good for the planet.
Before he gets there, working on smaller scale projects as the SA president has kept him plenty busy. Having on average at least two hours of meetings per day, a constant flow of emails and paperwork does take a little time. If it sounds tough, John won’t lie, it is. Balancing school work and SA president work and all his other extra-curricular on campus isn’t easy. But don’t worry, there are perks to the job; perks such as attending conferences all over the United States. Take one of John’s personal favorites for example which was attending a two week trip to Israel during the summer.
Although a free trip to Israel sounds like a dream, the high life is not all glitz and glamor. In fact the accomplishments that John has achieved working with his administration and team are astounding. From cutting fees to see a counselor at the counselors center to creating a website called GVoice in order for students ideas to be better heard and making sure the career center is better equipped to help students looking for jobs.
While John is at the forefront of a force to change GW for the better with some pretty bright ideas, don’t be surprised if you see him on another forefront soon enough; one perhaps involving clean energy that can literally light something up?