by Jonathan McNicholes | Metropolitan State University
I am writing to express my interest in continuing within my position as State Chair for the 2021-2022 academic year. I am nothing but grateful for the time I have been able to spend as the state chair for this year, and deeply proud of the work that we have all done as a board in protecting the voices and opportunities of the students across our system in the face of one of the most challenging years of our organizations history.
When I was elected into this role last year, I was beyond excited for the direction the organization was going and the plans that were coming together, and felt I had a lot to bring into these initiatives, from the expansion of our federal advocacy efforts, national and local coalition building, the restructuring of the campus staff program, and the stabilization of our organization through development planning and expansion. These were the reasons I wanted to become state chair in the first place and unfortunately because of the massive shift that happened in the face of the covid-19 pandemic and the shift of focus needed for our students, we were not able to work on these efforts at the level we were planning on.
Beyond this I was really excited to be able to connect and meet with both board members and students from across the system, as forming those connections and building excitement surrounding students united and our work has been something that has been very important to me over the last 3 years of working hard within Students United. The inability for me to not only visit you all at board meetings, students throughout in person campus visits, our staff and office through my day to day work, and the trustees in testimony has been less than ideal and I really want the opportunity to experience this as the rest of our state chairs in the history of this organization have been able to.
As a state chair candidate I bring a large perspective of our organizations history, understanding the goals and direction of the board of directors over the previous 3 years, including all of the initiatives we were hoping to see accomplished over this year including campus staff restructuring, developmental planning, international health insurance justice, and the creation of better board training and transitioning that will help incoming boards be able to start in a place of confidence, because we are an organization that is constantly in motion and change I believe that this would be an extremely beneficial perspective, especially in the face of one of the most complex year.
While I deeply value the time I have served as state chair, I feel I have missed out on a lot of the opportunities that help make this role so fantastic and hope I have the chance to gain these experiences and continue to fight for our students from our local communities to our federal representatives and partners.