Kiya Khalil is a senior at Wake, double majoring in Spanish (with a concentration in Medical Spanish) and Biology, and minoring in Chemistry. She is a Resident Adviser in Poteat Hall, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, a singer in Concert Choir, and a researcher for Wake Baptist Medical Center. Above all, she is this year’s Speaker of the House for Student Government. “I have been involved with Student Government since the first semester of my freshman year when I visited their table at the Student Involvement Fair. I have held many roles in Student Government, such as Senator, Judiciary Co-chair, and Academic Co-chair. This role, however, is the most fitting for me because I love communicating with people and serving as a mentor. I consider myself an extrovert, and I love being able to help people find their voice. I think that Student Government, in general, helps people find their passion and path.”
When campaigning for her current position, Kiya’s platform was ‘Connect, Integrate, Deliver.’ She wanted to connect undergraduate students to Wake’s associate schools (think Med School, Law School, etc.), integrate and connect student organizations, specifically getting Student Government involved with other organizations on campus, and deliver by putting forth action, versus just having a plan. “To give you an example, I worked with the Office of Student Conduct to clarify what medical amnesty is, and how to gain that. In the freshman handbook, it is now clear what is meant by medical amnesty. Another big goal for me is to help increase diversity on campus. I would like to see tours given in foreign languages because we have students that are fluent enough to give these tours.” Diversity is a topic that is important to Kiya because she is half Arabian, which would also explain her love for culture and language.
Obviously, Kiya wears many hats and has to be strategic about managing her time. After joining numerous clubs and organizations throughout her freshman year, Kiya realized that she hit the “sophomore slump” and needed to re-center herself. She gave us this advice: “Prioritize what you are truly interested in. I took stronghold in Student Government, and politics in general, so I chose to focus on that primarily—with academics being at the core of it all, obviously.”
Describing Kiya as a busy person is an understatement, so I was intrigued to know how she spends her free time. She is a football fanatic, and being from Wilmington, North Carolina, she HAD to be a Panthers fan. She also loves to travel, “even if it’s just packing up in a car and going somewhere.” Above all, Kiya loves to relax on the beach, which is fitting considering she is from a beach town. “All of my friends call me ‘Beach Bae,’ which also happens to be my Instagram handle (@beach_bae). I talk about the beach 24/7 because it is my happy place.”
After graduation, Kiya is planning to take a gap year to work in the government realm, hopefully in Washington, D.C., with a nonprofit organization. She eventually wants to attend medical school to become a trauma surgeon.
One last thing that Kiya wants you to know about remaining grounded in a swarm of classes, extracurricular activities, managing your social life, and everything else that comes with the college experience is, “Failing is okay because our best successes come from our failures. Don’t let failures be the end-all-be-all, but the stepping stone that you need to keep pushing forward.”
Shameless plug: If you would like to join Wake Forest’s Student Government (and hopefully be as awesome as well-rounded and amazing as Kiya), you can always sit in on a Senate meeting on Tuesdays in Greene 162. The Student Government Office is located in Benson 304, and their doors are always open!