Ladies and gentlemen of Marist College, I give you the future President of the United States, Dani Villa.
Okay, so that achievement might be a few years away but if anyone is on track to do big things, it’s Dani Villa. With the glass ceiling-smashing of Hillary Clinton, the fabulously toned arms of Michelle Obama, and the spunk of Leslie Knope, Dani is making strides on campus as President of the Marist United Nations Chapter, a political research assistant, and the newly elected captain of the Women’s Crew Team.
Recently I sat down with Dani to discuss all of her projects and achievements (as well as talk campaign strategies).
HC: What inspired you to start the Marist UN Chapter?
DV: A few of my classmates and I realized during my sophomore year that we all shared a common interest in the UN; a few had done Model UN in high school, some had participated in their programs, and I had recently volunteered with the UNA-USA (a civil society group geared towards educating Americans on the UN’s activities). We also realized that there can often be a bubble around the Marist campus – people tend to ignore what goes on outside of our campus, and we felt that international affairs should be more of a concern for students like us. We thought a great way to combine our interests with that goal of raising campus awareness would be through a student club; we’ve just now started our second year!
HC: Tell me a little bit about what the UN Club does.
DV: We bring a bunch of different events to campus – discussion panels, lectures, film showings, etc. And we even take a trip to the UN each year.
HC: Is there anything interesting coming up in the Marist UN?
DV: Yes! We have a few events coming up. We’re having a party for the Scottish Referendum, a lecture on immigration and development, and we’ll be going to the UN in a few weeks. We’re hoping to meet with an ambassador to the UN, get briefed on peacekeeping, and learn more about how students can get involved with the UN.
HC: Speaking of getting involved, why should Marist students get involved in the UN Club? And how can we get involved?
DV: Our club is a great way to get involved not only on campus but also as a global citizen. It’s also a lot of fun!! To get involved, students can like us on Facebook, email us at unclubmarist@gmail.com, and come to our biweekly meetings!
HC: Awesome! So what are these research projects you’re working on?
DV: I’m actually helping out two of my professors with different research projects. For one, Dr. Danielle Langfield is looking at how referendums liberalize governments. So I’m helping her make a huge dataset with about 80 different independent variables for each country. I’m also helping Dr. Juris Pupcenoks, the UN Club advisor, with a project. He’s researching how the political participation of Italian Muslims has evolved. For that, I’m doing a lot of research about the status of Muslims in Italy –the Italian government doesn’t ask census questions regarding religion, so a lot of the info is pretty vague. Then, whatever I find, I add into his paper. They’re both super specific projects, but it’s really fun getting to try out different types of political research, especially as I am hoping to go to grad school for international relations.
HC: Wow, that’s impressive! And as if you don’t already have enough going on, how’s the crew team looking?
DV: I’m really excited for the year! I’m hoping that we can win MAACs again and qualify to row in the NCAA finals. We have a great team and a lot of potential, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what we can do this season.
It’s pretty clear this girl is going places. If you’re interested in getting involved with UN Club check our their Facebook page or stop by a meeting every other Monday at 9:15 in Fontaine 105. And don’t forget to vote Villa 2040!
Photo Credit: Dani Villa