老司机传媒

I sat down this week with Hailey Prestes (junior, architecture) to talk about her experience as Social Vice President of AUSA this year. She tells us more about her role as the Social Vice and working as a part of our Andrews student government.  

Why did you apply as Social VP?
Since I was a kid, my family has always been super into event planning and decorating. Unofficially, of course—we just did things for the community. Since then, I’ve had a tendency to just plan things, decorate things, whatever needs to be done. I was always doing event-related stuff in high school, and now in college I’ve done some sort of event-coordinating thing every year since I was a freshman. Last year, I was an assistant to Taylor Biek—the social vice president at that time—so it was kind of a natural progression for me to apply this year.

What were the positions that you held?
Freshman year, I was on the creative team for Proximity. I honestly could not tell you what else I did, I have a terrible memory. Sophomore year, I was the creative director for Proximity. I was also the event coordinator for WEAAU (Women’s Empowerment Association of 老司机传媒), and then I was also the assistant to the Social VP then.

What exactly does your job entail?
It entails a lot. I plan every AUSA event, take care of any logistical details, decide if there are any collaborations, and make sure that the events are fun and entertaining. I deal with any rules or regulations that come with events or venues. I think that Covid has taken a really big hit on people socially, so as the Social VP I’m trying to bring social life back. But, even though I am in charge of all of that, I also do collaborate with other members of AUSA with their jobs. They help me, I help them, it works out.

What skills did you bring over from your time working with smaller organizations in your first two years?
There definitely are a lot of aspects that are the same. Basic planning — decorations, food, that kind of thing. They are a little bit different in that I planned a lot fewer events and they were more spread out throughout the year in those other positions. I had a smaller budget then, too — not that much smaller, don’t get me wrong — but it was a little smaller. Now, I have to focus on a lot more big-picture things in addition to the logistical stuff. I have to think about the entire student body, inclusivity, stuff that will bring in all these different cultures, so it’s a lot more for sure. But all of the work I did with those other smaller clubs did definitely help out.

What are your favorite parts of the job?
Well, this is a really stressful job. Everyone will worry about an event up until the minute it happens. We always have to be on a tight schedule — like, be planning things for next semester, while also planning for later this semester, while also planning for events that are a few weeks away. It’s a 24/7 job. So, with all of that going on, it makes it so, so rewarding to see people’s stories after an event, or to see Instagram posts about the event, or just hear people say that it was fun. I’m really excited that the last few events have gone so well.

What are your least favorite parts of the job?
Oh. Definitely when things just start to fall through. There are so many things that depend on each other, and if one thing falls through, then everything else starts to fall through too. It’s the worst feeling. And I’m an architecture student as well, so I’m supposed to be in the studio 24/7. I have found out recently that AUSA is also a full time job, so it’s been really stressful.

Do you work primarily independently, or do you get input from the other members of AUSA?
This year, I am really excited. We have a really great team. We work really well together, we know each other, and everyone is a hard worker. I’m excited to be able to go through the year with this team. Everyone is really supportive and they’ve been really great. We are all really focused on being the voice for the student body — not just doing events — and we are trying to do our best to represent student concerns to administration. It’s a whole long process with a lot of roadblocks, so we probably won’t be able to make any major changes this year, but we are hoping to at least set the way for the people coming after us.

What are some events that you are thinking about right now?
Right now, we are putting everything into the Barn Party that’s coming up on October 29. It used to be something that happened every year, but since COVID there hasn’t been one. Instead, they did stuff like the Fall Festival last year, which was hosted by a different organization than AUSA. I think that this year they actually canceled the Fall Festival, so the Barn Party is gonna be the place to be. We’re thinking line dancing, Tex-Mex food, a mechanical bull—we have a lot of stuff planned.

In general, how is your experience being in student government?
It’s been an experience. It’s been fun, for sure, but like I said before it’s super stressful. It does really help, though, to have a team that you can look to for support. I will note that we are the voice of the student body, so if we are going to communicate their needs properly, then we need the administration to listen to us. Right? We are elected so that we can represent the students, which are the heart of the school, but sometimes it seems like the concerns that we are relaying to administration from the students just go nowhere.