We are always meeting student leaders who are going the extra mile to make others feel welcome and build community culture on their campuses. We realized that one great way to learn from each other is to spotlight different students who have made an impact on the lives of their fellow students.
Meet Amairani Ayala, a student at the University of North Texas at Dallas. She’s an Accounting major and the Records Officer of The Student Government Association on campus. We asked her about the things she loves on campus and how she gets others involved.
What’s your favorite campus tradition?
My favorite campus event is the UNT Dallas Tutu Run. We first held this run this past October for Breast Cancer Awareness month so it is not a tradition yet, but we’re trying to make it one. It is my favorite because it is the first event that was a huge success not only for the student body but our faculty and staff as well. I loved seeing professors, students and even our Provost walking/running for a cause around the school in their Pink Out shirts and matching pink tutus that SGA made.
Have you ever helped someone go from neutral to more engaged?
It’s quite difficult to get such a small campus such as UNT Dallas to get engaged when we are a commuting school and a lot of students only go on campus when needed. So my strategy is to always target students who I see at most of the events we host because that means they attend because they want to. SGA has a senators committee for students who want to become more involved in school but don’t want to go and run for a officer position just yet. Our committee grew from zero to now seven students in just one semester which is a huge deal for SGA and two of those students are actually on that committee because I reached out to them. Both students plan on continuing their roles in SGA and one is even running for an officer position for the next school year so I am very happy about that.
What’s one time you went from meh to hmm on your campus?
The first time ever on campus that I went from meh to hmm was actually at my freshman orientation. The orientation was lead by students who were Jaguar Orientation Counselors (JOCs). I didn’t know anyone at UNTD so I wasn’t very excited about anything just yet but seeing the JOCs and how much they loved their school and were so excited to be there with us, it made me want to be them once I started college. As soon as school started, I learned about all the organizations in school and knew SGA was the one I wanted to be a part of right away. It was thanks to the JOCs that I went to being just a student at orientation to now an officer in SGA and a future JOC for this upcoming school year.
What events do you think create the most connections?
I think that events that create the most connection are ones that are for a good cause. For example, as I mentioned previously, our UNT Dallas Tutu Run has been our most successful event this year. Events that will benefit not only the school but also the community are the ones that make the most connections and wonderful memories.
There’s no better feeling than that of helping others get involved. Have you ever encouraged fellow students to join clubs or other activities?
