By Julia Oller | Echo
After several months on the job, seniors Kehlay Dunah and Cory Chea took time to reflect on their accomplishments. They refuse to sit on their laurels, however, and are already looking for ways to fulfill the three main tenets of the TSO mission statement they created: empowering students, facilitating innovative and diverse programming and cultivating community. How has the semester gone so far?
Dunah: It's gone really well. We've been making TSO our own this year. We developed a mission statement, which was a very long but beneficial process.
How are you putting the TSO mission statement into action?
Dunah: We recently had the opportunity to do that when a management team approached us, asking if we could sponsor them creating an event, S'karaoke. We had the opportunity to empower them and to provide that professional atmosphere they needed.
Chea: It's not so much about us saying "without us you wouldn't be empowered." I'm going to steal (2013-2014 student body president) Bri Leever's idea from last year of talking about a hallway. We are already plugged into all the doors and connections at Taylor.
What are some of your goals for the rest of the year?
Chea: We're really emphasizing stretching programming this year. To see newer events that deal with topics that aren't always talked about, or at least topics that cause you to think a bit more. They're still in the works.
What have you achieved so far that was in your campaign?
Chea: Senate's coming out with an email address called talktosenate@taylor.edu. It's supposed to make it easier for students to get in contact with their senators. Although students were able to talk to their senators, they didn't always know who their senators were or they didn't want to go out of the way to contact their senators specifically. We're hoping with this email address that we shrink this gap between students concerns and administrative awareness.
Dunah: Some of the things that have been accomplished from our campaign include the Trail of Tears (the path stretching from Sammy to the Dining Commons). It's half-finished. The other half is scheduled to be finished next summer.
What's your favorite part of student government?
Dunah: The most challenging, but also my favorite part, has been making this my own, finding my role, discovering how I can use my gifts to empower the group. I'm not trying to say that it's because of me that anything is happening, it's because of us as a whole.
Chea: I was in TSO last year, so I was familiar with how things work but coming into this year it was really exciting to see all the individual presidents grow into their positions and to see the creativity come out. We saw the success of IFC's concert a few weeks ago and Boxes and Walls this last weekend was excellent. Just to see all this creativity within the Taylor student body.
How do you two work together?
Cory: Working with Kehlay has been an absolute delight. She's always energetic and willing to help whoever needs help. Her energy always keeps cabinet meetings exciting. Her general friendliness toward everyone has made working with her a lot of fun.
Kehlay: Cory, you're too wonderful! Something I've appreciated about Cory is his honesty toward me. Not so much to fix each other but to complement each other. We're able to help each other grow. Many things about Cory are subtle, but his passion for TSO is very evident. He challenges us to think deeply on executive decisions, he's always willing and available to help cabinet members and he's supportive and encouraging of new ideas.
