Take a look back on the past semesters of college and ask yourself if you have stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new. If you don’t have those semesters to look back on, look forward to your coming semesters and challenge yourself to do so. This week’s Campus Celeb, Hannah Bolton, has stepped out of her comfort zone to become the Student Body President.
Hailing from St. Libory, Nebraska, Bolton did not begin college with presidential aspirations. Her first leadership role came her sophomore year when she was elected to serve as Chi Omega’s secretary. During this time, she was serving as a freshman/sophomore CLAS student senator and decided to get heavily involved with the KUnited student coalition the following spring. Even though Bolton was as involved as she was with the election, she never dreamed of becoming the next Chief of Staff, but that’s exactly what happened. “When I got Chief of Staff, I bawled,” she said. “I didn’t think I had what it took to be in that position.” Bolton quickly realized that her experience in Chi Omega gave her the experience and confidence to fulfill the leadership role.
When the time came for the 2012-2013 elections, Bolton was dead set on having the “ultimate senior year”. She didn’t want to run for Student Body President, but with many people pushing her to do it and a lot of time to weigh her options, she agreed. After a semester of serving as the SBP, I asked her how she felt about giving up her “ultimate senior year”. “I’m loving every second of this,” Bolton stated. “I’m exhausted most of the time, but this has been a position that I’ve met amazing people through and have had amazing experiences. My original hesitation was probably accurate for a social scene but overall, I will be a better person after I complete this term.”
How does our SBP fulfill her time-consuming role and stay on top of her schoolwork? On the weekends, you can probably catch her getting ahead on her upcoming week’s schoolwork. She also enjoys cooking and sleeping when she has a chance and proudly admitted to successfully watching all five seasons of Mad Men this semester.
With the next election approaching, what’s next for our university’s main girl? Why, this year’s elections of course! Well, that, graduation and applying to grad chool for Higher Education Administration (she eventually wants to be a Vice Provost for Student Affairs-you go girl!). Bolton said she’s looking forward to this year’s election because she won’t be the one out telling people why they should vote. Instead, she giggled and said, “I’ll be the one telling other people to go tell other people why they should vote.” Spoken like a true leader!