Remember when classmates would run for student government in the good old days of middle school and high school? You would see handcrafted posters with people’s faces, like Jim from 7th period European History, beaming at you through out the hallways. However, in college, it’s no longer Jim. At a school as big as UT, the massive amounts of students make it impossible to know everyone. That’s why, in the recent student government election, the names on the flyers and posters, to me, were just names I didn’t know existed.
Who are these mysterious people? Surely they must be more than print on paper.
Engineering Representative Kevin Yuan is proof that these names actually have faces to them.
If you tried mapping out Kevin’s life, it would be all over the place. He was born in Shanghai, China and then moved to Arcadia, California in third grade. When he was twelve, Kevin moved to Vancouver, Canada. But it doesn’t end there. At age fifteen, he made his way back to sunny California. Growing up, Kevin attended nine different schools. He tells me “I considered myself as a chameleon because I was able to adapt to different situations and assimilate myself into different surroundings.”
All the moving around didn’t stop Kevin from being actively involved in school. Kevin attended Arcadia high school, which he says has around 4,000 students and is known to produce the highest amount of UC students and Ivey leaguers in California. During his time there, Kevin already showed interest in student government. Kevin was sophomore council, junior council and his senior year he was executive vice president. Besides student government, Kevin was also in a variety of other organizations, from French club to playing tennis.
You’re probably wondering why this Californian left the lovely weather and great UC schools for Texas. As a petroleum engineer, Kevin’s answer is that UT has one of the premiere engineering programs in the nation. I asked Kevin why he specifically picked Petroleum engineering. He says it’s because his father works for Exxon Mobile and thinks highly of the company. His father also feels that it’s a job that fits well with Kevin’s personality, and the fact that it’s a lucrative business doesn’t hurt.
What exactly does an engineering representative do? Kevin says that he represents the Cockrell School of engineering within student government. He essentially acts as the liaison to the student engineering council. For example, if there is an important bill, the council will give Kevin their opinions and keep him updated, and in return, Kevin will take the council’s opinions into consideration when it’s his turn to vote. As engineering representative, Kevin says, “I want the UT engineers to be better represented on a national scale and the only way to do that is to increase funding in order to lighten the students’ financial burdens.” The main thing he hopes to accomplish is to increase funding for engineers who wish to study/research abroad.
Besides being engineering representative, Kevin is also part of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), American Association of Drilling Engineers, Theta Tau co-ed professional engineering fraternity and Vector engineering newspaper. Some of his future plans involve getting internships, moving up within student government and he is currently scheduled to be studying in Toulouse, France at Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse during his junior spring semester. Can you say oh là là?
Kevin is really not so different from the rest of us. He enjoys playing sports, watching the Lakers and playing Starcraft, perhaps a little too much. He’s certainly not some mysterious guy that has that has no life and is only concerned with winning elections. You’ve probably passed by him on campus before. Keep an eye out around campus for Kevin, or should I say, mister engineering representative.