Juan Salazar, a sophomore at USF St. Petersburg majoring in Psychology with a minor in Leadership, is the new Vice President Elect of USFSP. With an array of involvement on campus, Salazar is ready to take on his position with President Elect, Jozef Gherman. Salazar’s journey at USFSP began on January 20th 2013. Things have turned out well for Salazar, as his college career at USFSP has been a blessing both professionally and academically.
K- What do you plan to do with your degree?
“I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m majoring in Psychology mostly because I like learning about people and why we act and think the way we do. I’m not really worrying about getting a job right after college. I kind of just go with the flow.”
K- When is your expected graduation date?
“May 2017”
K- What is your ethnical background?
“Colombian”
K- Now that you and Jozef have been elected as President and VP, what are your short term and long term goals?
“Short-term goal is to let the Student Body know what Student Government does and how it can benefit them. Long-term goal would be to make Student Government into an organization that is professional, trustworthy, and most importantly make it into an organization that helps develop student leadership and life skills. “
K- If you had to choose a major thing (number one goal) to change about USFSP, what would it be?
“If I could change anything about USFSP, I would change the way some professors teach so that they could be more engaging and encouraging. I personally don’t like it when a professor teaches simply by talking for the entire class time. The best professor I had at this school was Nathan Schwagler. When I took his Creativity and Innovation class I had an amazing time. Schwagler was really good at engaging students and encouraging us to learn and look at each situation thrown at us as a learning opportunity. His passion for teaching was really sincere and the best part about his teaching style was that it always changed because he would always ask us for criticism so that he could teach all of us better. If more teachers were like him, classes would be more interesting and a lot easier.”
K- Number one advice to incoming freshmen?
“Step out of your comfort zone and go after what you want would be my biggest advice for incoming freshman. Most of my life I’ve been shy and quiet, and I didn’t like that about myself. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I started to step out of my comfort zone. I would usually go straight home and stay there when I was done with school, but during my senior year I tried spending more time with my friends and I tried to go to more of my school’s games and events because I wanted to enjoy every single moment of my last year in high school. By the time I finished my senior year, I realized I missed out on a lot of things in high school and when I graduated I told myself that I am going to change when I go to college. When I entered college, I told myself that I want to make a bunch of friends and so I approached a bunch of people I didn’t know and just started to make a conversation with them. It was really uncomfortable doing this without having a reason to approach them, but I did it anyways. Even though it’s scary and sometimes nerve wracking to step out my comfort zone, I have gained so much growth, so much opportunities, and so much enjoyment out of life to the point where I just love stepping out of my comfort zone because I know it’s going to make me a better person. During the elections, I had to really step out of my comfort zone because I had to talk to a bunch of people I didn’t know so that I could get more votes, and I had to publicly speak in front of an audience for the debates which was really nerve wracking to me. When I became Student Body Vice President, all I could think of was just how far I’ve gotten in life. I felt astonished and proud for how far I have come. All it takes is just a little bit of courage, and everything else will just work out.”
K- In what other ways are you involved at USFSP
“This year I’m mainly involved with Harborside Activities Board, Ambassadors, Bulls Out Loud, and now that I’m Vice President Elect I’m going to be more involved with Student Government again. A lot of people think that I’m involved in everything, but I’m really not. My freshman year, I pretty much just tried to get involved with as many clubs and orgs as I could just to see what I would be interested in doing but now this year I figured it’s better for me to just be involved in a few clubs and focus more on developing my leadership skills.”
K- Number one item in your Bucket List?
“My number one item in my bucket list is to go to the moon.”
K- Where do you see yourself in five/ten years?
“Five years from now I see myself traveling around the world and just learning and experiencing the different cultures and opportunities this world has to offer. Ten years from now, I see myself making a huge impact on this world. I’m still not sure what kind of impact I’m going to make, but I do know that it’s going to be big and positive!”
K- Any additional comments or things you would like the USFSP student body to know about you?
“Yeah as your Student Body Vice President, if you have any ideas for the University, if you have any questions, or if you just want someone to talk to, feel free to contact me or Jozef Gherman. We’re here to help and listen. Stay classy USFSP and Go Bulls!”