When grappling with the question “how do we effectively empower women?,” my knee-jerk reaction as a staunch feminist and female student leader, is to immediately say “put women in leadership” and give them the systematic power society so deeply values. After all, powerful women should always lead their fellow powerful women. So, in honor of Women’s History Month, Her Campus Utah wanted to spotlight one of the many women on campus taking the world by storm: Emily Pellegrino, the 2019 ASUU election’s candidate and sophomore at the University of Utah, who recently earned one of four seats for the David Eccles School of Business. Besides her ASUU position, Emily is a deeply involved student outside of student government, as she is not only one of Her Campus Utah’s very own writers, but an active member of the Pi Beta Phi Women’s Fraternity, the University of Utah Pre-Law Society, Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, and the OneLove Ski Club. If her love for the U and all things campus involvement, wasn’t obvious from her extensive (and impressive) resume, she is also a Business Marketing major and double minor in Political Science and Writing and Rhetoric Studies, leaving very few areas of student life as uncharted territory for this wonderfully empowered and happily busy student leader. Besides exploring her incredible (and almost limitless) list of extracurriculars, Her Campus Utah also wanted an inside look on the ins and outs of her passion for politics, specifically student politics/government, so we asked her a few questions:
1. Why did you decide to run for a position on ASUU?
I have always been an extremely involved individual and student. Throughout high school I was in charge of various clubs, sports, and activities around my hometown (I even was my elementary school class president). Subconsciously, I think I always knew I thrived most in leadership roles. But it wasn’t until recently that I truly convinced myself of my own capability for the leadership roles I take on. In my mind, if I am a part of something long enough, why not be in charge of it? Combine this with my need to understand the innerworkings of any organization that I am a part of, and that is where the leadership element of running for an ASUU role comes from. I also am extremely interested in politics, the workings of the American political system (of which ASUU is almost a direct reflection), law, and debate. All of this together creates the perfect storm for me to run for student government.
2. Have you ever been a part of student leadership before?
Aside from my notable time as my elementary school class president, I continued my student leadership roles throughout my time in high school being a part of student council, National Honors Society, playing a varsity sport for four years, and being my graduating class’s commencement speaker. As a freshman from across the country (PA), I was definitely interested in taking on leadership roles around campus, but needed to get my bearings first in terms of school and navigating my new (and slightly peculiar) home. Thankfully, I stepped out of my shell during my second year at the U, and I am now proud to be a member of various organizations around campus. In addition to running for ASUU and being a part of the Her Campus team (hey ;)) I am also a member of Pi Beta Phi Women’s Fraternity (where I hold various leadership positions), OneLove Ski Club, University of Utah Pre-Law Society, and Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society.
3. What are your top three goals as a future member of ASUU?
– Bring a business mindset to my committee and general assembly matters
– Give more funding to the groups who need it most
– Be tactile in knowing how to reallocate funding in all areas/have good money management from the start
– (Extra fourth one I guess) show another side of the ASUU dealings and present my own case for funding for a new group that I am starting on campus next year
4. Do you think it’s important for students to vote and participate in student elections? If yes, why?
Of course! My saying with both the American political system and student government is the same: no matter if you vote or you don’t, the decisions made by those who are elected are still going to affect you in some way or another. Without exercising your right to vote, you’re willfully giving away any kind of say you have in decisions that will still impact your life as a student.
5. Do you think going through the process of an election, regardless if you earn the position or not, is beneficial/an important life lesson? How so?
With an election, there are always unknowns. Who will be your opponents, what issues will emerge with being the most important, (if it is your first time running – like me) what exactly am I doing, how do I compete against those who already have more experience than me, etc. etc. And because of those unknowns, running for election pushes everyone out of their comfort zone. I am a firm believer in living outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t, you will never experience anything new or do anything truly worthwhile. But the biggest unknown is what will be the outcome of the election? Running for office puts you in the position where you must fight for the things you believe in most, put your best foot forward, and put your all into something while still accepting the idea that you could possibly lose. Learning how to accept a process as something you are proud of and not seeing it as a loss is an extremely important life skill for anyone (and I can definitely say I’ve had some practice with rejection and disappointment throughout my life, and it has made me a stronger person through it all).
6. Have you noticed a discrepancy in the amount of women vs. the amount of men running for student leadership? Why do you think this is?
There are actually more women running for leadership positions this year (including president) than men, but the totals were very close. While this is interesting to observe, I think there is even more interest in the discrepancy between how many women vs. men seek student government positions at the collegiate level and how many women vs. men we see actually representing our country at the federal level. Even outside of government, it is easy to see that women and men are equally motivated to take on these higher-position roles, yet in the corporate world we more often see men in leadership positions. The same phenomenon can be observed with white students seeking elections vs. students of color.
8. In your opinion, why is it important for women to be in student leadership?
We need more women representation on all levels of government, and in order for that to happen, we must start with student leadership and work our way up from there.
9. What advice would you offer a woman who is considering running for a ASUU position?
Don’t try to compromise yourself, your image, or try to portray yourself as being distant from the qualities of being a woman that you love about yourself. A lot of the time, women running for positions like this one want to seem less feminine, like they possess less emotion, or like they have the masculine qualities that traditional thought has convinced us are the ones fit for powerful roles. But, there is power in womanhood, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Emily Pellegrino will be proudly working under the leadership of one of the University of Utah’s history-making female student body presidents Anna Barnes, this upcoming year—making the 2019-2020 school year a year of unforgettable girl power. We at Her Campus Utah would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote for Emily, as we are confident that she will do amazing things for the U. Stay informed. Stay empowered. Stay politically-active. And be sure to vote in future ASUU elections (the well-being of your campus depends on it).
Photos were sourced from the interviewee herself