Anthony Reynolds is proof that working hard and staying humble eventually takes you places.
“I never really said, ‘You know, I want to be student body vice president.’”
But that’s exactly what he is. The first Asian American vice president in UF history came to college with an ambitious mindset.
He joined the Asian American Student Union and the Filipino Student Association; organizations that he says gave him a home away home. The spring of his freshman year, Reynolds became interested in UF politics.
The public relations and criminology major was instantly drawn to the Unite Party because of their platforms and volunteers.
“They knew what they were talking about and seemed really passionate,” he says.
After volunteering with the Unite Party, he moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a cabinet chair and getting nominated for vice president of the student body his junior year.
“The opportunity just presented itself,” Reynolds says humbly, as if opportunities like that just present themselves to people.
Campaigning was grueling. The first half of his year was dedicated to it, going to bed at 3 a.m. and being up and functioning again by 7 a.m. Although he went into it knowing it’d be stressful, he never expected such a roller coaster of emotions.
“The one thing that made it doable was knowing that there were students who believed in what I could do,” he says.
The road to vice presidency certainly wasn’t smooth. Reynolds received some negative feedback, and a letter in the Alligator stands out in his memory. The letter accused Reynolds of lying about his involved in AASU, adding that he didn’t have the Asian community’s best interests are heart.
“For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why someone would say that,” he says. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Reynolds says he received a lot of positive reinforcement from friends and strangers after the letter that reminded him to stay grounded and resilient.
With a passion for public relations, Reynolds hopes to one day become a legal spokesperson for a company. However, the driven and upstanding campus leader admits that he does have one regret about his underclassman career.
“I might have forgotten to have a little fun every now and then.”
Reynolds is looking forward to being able to reach out to students at a different level.
“I was raised to give back,” he says. “It’s a great responsibility, and I’m going to do the best job I possibly can.”