A Farewell Interview with SGA’s Long-standing President: Alex Amoro

Written by Samuel Turgeon

On Friday, April 14th, I had the pleasure of interviewing SGA president Alex Amoro. Alex has served on the SGA Executive Board since his freshman year and has been the Student Government Association (SGA) president for the past two. He’ll be graduating this semester, and this interview serves as a recounting of his time spent at USJ. The following is an abridged version of our conversation edited for clarity and conciseness:

 

What are some hobbies that you like to pursue outside of school? 

I used to work at Saint Francis Hospital, but I just recently started working at Farmington Valley Dermatology. But when I’m not doing that, I really love just being with my friends and family. I like to be outside…I’m kind of spur of the moment. I’ll just go with my friends, and we’ll go shopping, or we’ll go to the beach. Just being with friends and family, just the memory-making. I also love to shop. Playa Bowls is my favorite place to eat at. I also love to run and work out when I can.

For extracurriculars, I did cheer while it was available on campus and later became cheer captain. I’ve been the manager of the soccer team for all four years and became director of operations for the team. I’ve been an OL (orientation leader), a building manager, an Admissions Ambassador. I’ve been involved in so many different things, it’s given me a lot of different knowledge about the university and allowed me to see it in different aspects.

What was your initial goal in attending USJ?

When I was applying for schools, I was kind of unsure of what I wanted to be or where I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to be in healthcare. The receptionist for my guidance counselor used to work here, and she suggested the school to me, so I applied. I came to Accepted Students Day… and the warm and welcoming environment really just grabbed me. I knew it was a close area, a small community, and I could sense the different opportunities that would arise or be available to students. They have a great nursing program, which is what I thought I wanted to go into. Pretty much all of that mixed together.

What is your major, and why did you decide to pursue it?

My major is health science. I wanted to do nursing, but the time aspect didn’t work out for me. It was a blessing in disguise though, which opened me up to other possibilities. I really didn’t ever contemplate PA (Physician’s Assistant), but then I started learning more about it, and it’s definitely something that I’m very happy to be pursuing. I realized that I wanted to be a PA specializing in dermatology and being an EDT (Emergency Department Technician) working at Saint Francis made me realize the different opportunities that are available in healthcare. My major is health science, and I’m currently applying to PA schools. If that doesn’t work out, I have my A, B, and C plans.

Why were you initially attracted to Student Government? 

I always wanted to be in Student Government. I never did it in high school because I didn’t really know too much about Student Government. I was unsure and kept contemplating myself. When I came to USJ, I knew that I wanted to enhance my leadership skills and also help make a difference on campus. I became very involved in the campus quickly, and I knew that SGA would give me opportunities to make change. I knew Jay (James Henderson), and he knew the President of SGA at the time. They needed a secretary, and I applied for the position. I became secretary during freshman year within the first two weeks of school. I knew that I wanted to see what I could do to help make a difference. I viewed it as a great opportunity to help and be an advocate for students and to learn about what can be changed on campus. I worked well with the president, and we did a lot on campus. As I got more and more involved, it pushed me to keep going forward with SGA.

How have your academic pursuits affected your time as SGA president? 

I’m SGA president, but my major has nothing to do with politics. When thinking about it, it really allows me to see the ways that I can use the skills that I’ve learned from SGA to help as I’m going forward in healthcare, as there are a lot of changes that still need to be made. I’d love to become an administrator one day. Also, being here with the knowledge from my degree and from SGA, I’m able to help students implement different ideas and things that can be changed. In my role as SGA president, I’m able to bring student ideas to my E-board and decide whether or not those ideas should be brought up more at the university. I don’t know if my role in SGA and my major really correlate. You’d usually expect someone who is more politics oriented. My major and my position don’t really go back-to-back with each other, but there are some benefits and overlaps.

 

What are some of your greatest accomplishments while serving in Student Government? 

 

I honestly can’t pin everything. I’m the kind of person who tends to see everything as unsatisfactory. I like to see the room for improvement in everything. There have been some things done during my time on the E-Board that have been great for the university. In my time as president, I’ve tried to focus on adjusting SGA to fit the university. SGA at our university was built on a structure designed for a much

bigger university. Our policies and procedures do not align with something that a typical state school would do. Therefore, we need to adjust our constitution and our bylaws in order to fit with a smaller university. We’ve been working on the bylaws, and I hope to have the constitution and bylaws finalized by the time that I leave. I want to prevent future SGAs from having to worry about this. I personally think that it is very important for it to align with our smaller university. Not everything is bad about the constitution, but I think it’d be better to have it laid out for the university. It’s bound to happen. Policies always change over time.

Personally, I’ve loved to give different speeches on campus. I’ve been a part of many different committees, such as the signage committee and the calendar committee. I was also a part of the Strategic Plan committee, which helps to make large changes on the campus in the future. This committee developed a plan stretching from 2022 all the way into 2027. I’ve been able to offer different perspectives to the administration and faculty on these committees and advocate for student needs. I couldn’t even tell you how many committees I’ve been on, but they’ve helped behind the scenes on campus and made things better for students.

In terms of major things, we worked to get stoles for clubs. I was able to get them to be better produced. I’m really proud of those. I hope that students will want to keep them forever and feel recognized for all of the hard work that they’ve done. I really want to help build more traditions on campus. SGA stoles are gold, clubs and other organizations are blue, and athletics are white. We also worked to host SGA Bingo and sponsor other events on campus. We purchased the foosball table and ping pong table in the lounge and hosted a movie marathon for Christmas 2021. I’d like to continue those standards going forward. We’ve also held many sessions for student feedback and brought those things to the President and administration.

What are some of your favorite memories with SGA and with USJ as a whole?

I’ve loved every single E-Board that I’ve been a part of. I love my E-Boards. We’ve had many different fun, stressful, and great times together. We’ve gone on some different retreats, and I’ve attended a few different conferences. The conferences have granted me some different opportunities and provided me with skills and connections. I’m more of a memories-focused person. I think all of the SGA days that we do are wonderful. Those are the days when we do all the voting and promote SGA. I also had the honor of throwing the first pitch at a Yard Goats game. Also, all of the memories that I’ve made in the dorms and at events with my friends. We used to go play manhunt in the middle of the field at night. I remember recording a music video in a snowstorm with some friends. There are so many different fun memories of the friends I’ve made, accomplishments I’ve achieved, and opportunities that I’ve been given.

Are there any specific individuals, faculty, or students, that significantly impacted your career at USJ? How did these individuals help you to grow into the person you are now? 

James Henderson. That man, I could cry talking about him. He is the kindest and most selfless person. He will do anything to help you. He is always there for you. I look at him as my family, I’m so grateful for him. Kaylee Wright, I definitely clicked with her immediately. Molly Miner, Melanie Sinche, President Free, Kim Crone, Sister Beth, Dean Dawson, I was able to create such a relationship with all of them. There are so many others too, I couldn’t possibly list them all. They’ve had a huge impact not just on my life, but also on the entire campus. They’ve all made my experience here better and had my back when I was in need. They’ve been there to help me figure out some of the financial stress of working to pay for school. There are a lot of good people here who are willing to help.

If you could go back and restart your time as president, what would you do differently? 

I would definitely set my goals in a timeframe that would allow me to see the changes that I had implemented. I have been able to offer many different things to the university, but there are some things that I could’ve done differently. I could’ve tried to make SGA more of a presence on campus. I also could’ve worked to make myself more accessible. I always try to make it known – my presence and ability to help here. It’s always something that I think I could’ve done better at. I’ll make sure that the constitution and bylaws are finished, but it would’ve been nice to have those done quicker. There are also some goals that we had planned that I would’ve wished to see through.

Honestly, I don’t know if I can say I really would go back. There are a lot of things that I wish I had been able to do or had more time for. But I am really thankful for everything that I’ve been able to be a part of and all of the experiences.

What do you hope to see come out of SGA after your departure? Are there any goals that you would recommend for your successor? 

I would love to see SGA flourish: just really do what it can to help the students here. Just being present on campus and having more of an effect maybe. Also, implementing more of those traditions. We’d like to implement monthly forums for student feedback and generally be more available to meet with students. Also, making SGA more known and having more interactions between students and SGA.

For things I would recommend, mostly just being true to themselves. Having trust and not listening to all of the negative noise. There’s a lot of other things as well. I don’t necessarily feel like I have the right to offer advice to anyone. I always want the best for everybody. The biggest thing is just to utilize your resources and try to always do what you feel is best.

What are your plans for post-graduation both short term and long term? Were these plans affected by your time at USJ? 

I will be applying for PA schools. If I can’t get into any PA schools, I’ll look into nurse practitioner programs. And then if not that, I have plans of getting a business degree and going into that side of healthcare. My ultimate goal is to be a PA and specialize in dermatology. I would like to definitely experience being a PA that is more of a surgeon. Surgeon, ortho[pedics], and derm[atology] are my three general things. I know that I will get that experience and knowledge in PA school. I have those backup plans, but PA school is my biggest goal right now.

Beyond that honestly, just work and gain more experiences. I’d like to open some new chapters of my life in the future. I would really like to travel, to go to Cancun, to the Bahamas, just to see all of those beautiful places.

I’d love to be a part of the alumni and stay connected with the university. I’d love to kind of give back and be an asset of some sort to the university even though I’ve graduated. 

My plans definitely changed during my time at USJ. There’s a quote that I love to give to incoming students: “We may not all take a direct path to our final destination, and that’s okay.” That’s something that I really needed to know in order to push through some of my struggles.

Alex can be contacted at: [email protected] 

SGA can be reached through: [email protected] or through their Instagram page at: usjsga.

Featured Photograph Provided By: Alex Amoro