Hometown: Newton, Massachussets
Class Year: 2017
Isabella Kahhalé is a leader on campus. An active member of the Tufts Senate, she specifically serves as Services Committee co-chair and as an Allocations Board member.
She has played a large part in the new late-night meal plan and study options! She is also a LCS tutor, a member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, and a new member of Alpha Phi.
What have you accomplished on Senate?
Last semester I worked with a senior senator to try and to extend hours of Carmichael and Dewick, so that they would accommodate late-night dining. The project was a success and we were also able to open the Commons in Campus Center from 9pm to 2am on Friday and Saturdays and include it on the meal plan.
How did you come up with the idea for this project?
I realized that there was a huge demand for late night dining and no options available for students. We all get hungry late at night and I wanted there to be the option of getting food easily, and without a cost!
What was the process behind getting the project approved and implementing it?
I was surprised with the turnaround time. People had told me that it was too much of an ambitious project and that it would take at least a year to put into place. Instead, we were able to organize it in a semester!
To start off we sent out a survey to see how interested students would be in the possibility of it. We then used the data to write up a resolution and outlined the reasons why there was a need for late-night dining on campus. The senate then passed the resolution and approved the project.
What followed was a series of meetings with Ms. Patti Klos, the director of dining services. We brought the resolution to her and she was super helpful. People sometimes think that administrators are reluctant to help, but that was not the case at all. Ms. Klos truly had the student’s best interest at heart and was very open to all our ideas.
Do you have any future projects in mind?
I’m currently working on a bunch of different projects. There is the idea of potentially having the bookstore subsidized, so that each student is able to get one item of apparel at a reduced cost. I think that making it easier for students to buy Tufts apparel cost would really bring us together and would also be fairer for students of all socio-economic backgrounds.
There’s also the idea of creating an outdoor sand volleyball court so that students could play recreationally without having to be involved in Club or Varsity teams. The idea came from Eli Lloyd and we’ve paired up to explore the possibility of setting that up. It would also be great to create a forum in which teachers can post their syllabus before students sign up for classes. That way classes could be opened up for people who actually want to take them and would make the whole registration process simpler.
Any Fun Fact you would like to share?
I have 3 citizenships (Lebanese, American, Canadian). Also, I still haven’t met another Lebanese person on campus; so if you’re out there, holler at me!
Want to see more Tufts celebs? Meet Malcolm Steele!
Edited by Danyelle McInnis.