Crimson and Gold Connection; Jordan Schaper

Welcome to Crimson & Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. This is Trent Johnson, thanks for joining us for Crimson & Gold Connection. Today our guest is Jordan Schaper, who just completed his term as the Student Government Association President at Pittsburgh State University. Jordan thanks so much for taking your time to join us today. That made you decide on attending Pittsburgh State. I came down, I didn't know where I was going to go to school, and one of my best friends from high school got me the semester before we graduated high school, and he's like, hey, let's go check out Pitt State and I didn't know anything about it, but I don't know. It was kind of a gut feeling. I can't really explain it, there really wasn't any logical breakdown of it, it was just something that felt right. You are set to graduate shortly from Pittsburgh State University. When you did come, what was your intended field of study, and is that still the career path you're kind of heading in right now? No, definitely not.

It came down, I thought that I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, so that's where I thought everything was going to work, I took one POB, one class, and nope, game over, and so changed to political science, pre-law, and so I'm hoping to go to law school this next year. You have been the Student Government Association President at Pittsburgh State for the last year. How did you become involved in SGA? When I came to Pitt State, a lot of people that I really looked up to, in my fraternity and other organizations I'm with, were involved in SGA, I didn't get involved in my junior year, and they just, they showed me how to be involved, how to have a good time, but at the same time be able to contribute to the overall campus, and so that's what really kind of drew me into it. Was becoming the President something that you set your mind to when you did first join SGA, or did that just kind of come about? It just completely ran them, just came about, the opportunity presented itself to where Jackie Gilchrist and I could run together, and I said, you know, you're only in college once, let's take the leap. Explain the process and the work that's put into running for President, and how do you

gain support of your peers around campus? Oh man, it's a lot of planning. You want to try to go talk to different organizations, get different people to see your vision, and back you up with it, but I mean, a lot, a lot of nights with no sleep, and it's a rough couple of weeks, it's hard on you, it's hard on the body and soul, it's difficult. What are some of the important duties that you have to take over once you became the President of SGA? General things that we were trying to do, one of the big ones was a culture change as far as what the organization does, how we interact with administration and students, and so right out of the gate, the big one was just trying to revamp the image of SGA and make it a little bit more, people friendly as opposed to a little bit bitter internally, I guess. And so a lot of handshakes, a lot of having real conversations with people about the direction that we want to take the organization and from a student's perspective, things that we can do to help out. It's pretty busy and you got to coordinate eight other people that are in charge of their own little areas and their own little sectors, and so it's pretty time consuming. You had an event for a year in office with ground breaking, expansions, and ribbon cuttings

of many new buildings around the Pittsburgh State campus. Tell us what it was like being the face of the student body during all of these events. It was unbelievable. When I came in as a freshman, I voted on the referendum and I didn't really think anything about it, but then to actually kind of see it develop. It's a very good closing, I guess, to call it just the way that it worked out in my four years here. So to see these things actually transcend paper and become what they are now, it's really indescribable. It just seems like everything kind of went full circle. What are some of the accomplishments that you're going to be most proud of when you look back at your time here? I think we did a very good job of handling businesses that came up. We didn't let things fester. If you're talking like program-wise, big event, we had the biggest big event ever. That was probably the most satisfying thing to see that happen, and Christina Adams is the one that was the big event director, and she killed it this year. But it's hard because there are so many different things on so many different levels. We actually have legislation that started at Case State, but we were quick to get on it. It's actually in the process right now, being passed that would provide some immunity to

underage drinkers if they need medical attention for minor in possessions, and so people aren't going to be afraid to make that call. That's, if you're talking about like substantial steps, that could really make a big difference in somebody's life of whether or not they go get that help or not, and so I'd probably go big event, and then the Lifeline 9-1-1 legislation. Earlier this month, the new leaders of SGA were elected. What would you like to see happen in the near future from SGA at Pittsburgh State? I'd like to see this expand. I think we had an identity crisis a lot, my first year in the organization, and I think we kind of are somewhat grounded and kind of know what we want to do with it, and so I just want to see them be creative. I want to see them be innovative. Come up with things that nobody else has thought of before, and solutions that before didn't really seem attainable. Creativity is the big one for me. I want to see them think outside of the box, bring different things here that no other school in Kansas has. I have a lot of faith in them. Both Kyle Hostler and Rachel Herring are very outside of the box thinkers, so I'm really excited to see how this is going to play out.

You are graduating here in early May from Pittsburgh State. How do you feel about that, and what are your plans after you leave? Oh, man. Bittersweet. I love this place. I love everything about it. It's probably made other than family, of course, probably the biggest impact on my life, so it's going to be really sad to leave the community of Pittsburgh, leave different organizations that I'm involved with and not see the people regularly, but that's life. That's the way it works sometimes, but I'm hoping to go to law school. I'm still waiting to hear back from a couple of places, but have some backup plans figured out. So right now, I'm just putting up my sales and seeing where the wind takes me. Any chance later in life, we might see you making your own at federal office or anything like that? Man, I don't know. I couldn't tell you what I'm going to eat for lunch after this. That's a pretty hefty statement. I'm just going to try to keep as many doors available as possible. I think the more opportunities that you have, the more flexibility that you have growing older, you can kind of figure out what your niche is and where you fit in. If that's the way it is, that's the way it is, but that's pretty hefty. Do you have any final thoughts or recollections on your time here at Pittsburgh State as it

is winding down? Seeing it all come together, and especially after the plaster center ceremony, the school has just given me so much, and the students here are so willing to give back. I think coming to Pitt State was probably the best decision I could have ever made, and I don't regret anything in terms of that. It's been very impactful. I've met a lot of lifelong friends, and this is a place where I'm happy to say that I'm graduating from. Our guest today was Jordan Shaper, who just completed his term as the student government association president at Pittsburgh State University. For KRPS and Crimson and Gold Connection, this is Trent Johnson. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection, Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350.