Name: Amanda Tam
Year: Junior
Major: Social Welfare
Hometown: Maspeth, Queens, NY
What are your positions on campus?
Amanda: “I am the President of Circle K International, which is a community service club, and I’m the Vice President of Hall Council Affairs for RHA, the Residence Hall Association.”
Can you tell us more about your work with Circle K International?
Amanda: “Yeah! Circle K is a community service club so we fundraise a lot of money to be able to fund our service projects. During meetings we do those service projects, for example we make activity books or photo frames or paper cranes and we turn those things into presents for kids in the hospital or the veterans home or the homeless shelter. We also do a lot of bake sales. We have had some in the SAC and at tailgating at the football games. So that raises a lot of money and we donate a lot of that to different charities like Pink Ribbon International, a women’s shelter in San Francisco for LGBT rights, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, stuff like that.”
How did you get involved with Circle K?
Amanda: “Circle K is the college version of Key Club, which is a high school community service club that I was president of in high school. And the middle school level is called Builders Club and I was involved in that, too, in 7th and 8th grade. Key Club for me was 9th-12th grade, and now I’m in Circle K for college.”
How do you think Circle K has changed your outlook on life?
Amanda: “We meet on Wednesdays, and usually Wednesdays are really rough days, but it’s not like that for me because I’m always looking forward to the meetings because I run meetings. To be able to talk to people and tell them that they are worth something and can make a change, it makes me happy that there is someone listening to me and there’s someone I’m able to talk to. Even if I don’t know their names, it’s still really nice. And we always do service projects, too, and I love hearing everyone laugh. I like making sure that I’m ending their night on a good note.”
What is it like being a part of RHA in such a substantial and impactful way?
Amanda: “RHA is such a huge time commitment, but I love it. It feels like a lot of work, but it’s so cool to be able to reach out to 28 residence halls, sending them newsletters about RHA and other programs and hall councils. And now we have RHA Senators of the Month and the Hall Council of the Month so we can finally recognize them for their hard work.
There’s always been this distance between RHA and the hall councils for example, RHA is known for their big programs or for their really long meetings on Mondays or for giving money to hall councils, but we are more than that. We try to really make things better. We are trying out a lot of new initiatives and collaborate more with other organizations and have a lot more interesting programs, things that are different than Weekend Life Council or USG or CSA.
RHA makes me feel really awesome. I never pictured myself in RHA. I became an RHA senator my freshman year and I never, ever thought that I would be on the e-board. It’s been such a thrill. The fall retreat was the most fun thing ever. I was able to tell student leaders that they are going to have a really fun year and be able to do all these things in their residence halls and create a sense of community. That is one of the strongest things you can do as a leader to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere away from home. It’s just nice.”
Do you have any secret interests?
Amanda: “I don’t know. I think I’m like an open book. I love photography; everyone knows I take pictures. I always bake for bake sales for Circle K and stuff, but I’ve always baked since middle school. I really like puppies. I love playing volleyball, but I never get to play anymore because I don’t have time. And I really like pumpkin and pumpkin pie.”
What advice would you give to your freshman self?
Amanda: “I would ask myself to open up my options. Ever since I came here, I knew I was going to do Circle K and then I immediately started leadership positions with Circle K and I’ve stuck with it. I have no regrets about it at all, but I wish that I tried to do a cultural club or a historical society or maybe a professional society. Circle K and RHA are great organizations, but I got involved in them really quickly and I got so devoted to them that I wasn’t really able to try other things…like volleyball. I did some intermural games and I played a few times, but that was it.”
How has your involvement changed your Stony Brook experience?
Amanda: “Oh man! Well, I have had maybe one free weekend since the beginning of the semester where I didn’t have one Circle K thing or one RHA thing. Every weekend, I’ve had something and I’ve always been so busy. When you come to college, you tend to focus on school and then sometimes you have one meeting a week for an organization. But for me I’m always busy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I have free time on Thursday, but then I have office hours on Tuesdays and Fridays.
My leadership roles in these organizations have made me see the world in a different way like there are so many things to do. People will say that things are boring; this is a boring campus and that it’s not fun here. But it really is what you make of it. When you join an organization, you know that the people there have the same similarities as you and they usually have the same goals as you, too. So surround yourself with really good people who have the same interests and a positive mindset, that’s the best thing for you. That’s what’s awesome about Circle K and RHA. Everyone there is so involved and so motivated to make things better.”
What do you want your legacy to be?
Amanda: “That’s so hard! My biggest goals with my organizations are to make them bigger and better and I want them to have a more positive impact and influence in our community. So if I can make them a regular residence hall household name, then I’ll be so happy. I want to build RHA to be as strong as USG or CSA. RHA is a lot more important than we think. I also want to relate it to RA’s more. Within residential life, I want to be a really good student leader and someone who makes Stony Brook and Seawolves happy. With Circle K, I want to be a president who really changed people’s outlook on the way they can make the world a better place, too. I want them to know they can make a really big difference and for them to learn about all the social issues that we may not face, but should understand and know.
I want people to be happier, too. Every is always like, ‘Oh, you smile so much’ I mean it’s true, but I know that if I’m smiling, everyone is smiling, too, usually. I want to be known as happy, but I want other people to be happy, too, when they think of me or think of their Stony Brook experience.”
Read more about the Residence Hall Association and Circle K International