{"id":31335,"date":"2018-04-12T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=31335"},"modified":"2018-11-19T12:25:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:25:32","slug":"commencement-profile-flexibility-the-key-for-student-body-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=31335","title":{"rendered":"Commencement profile: Flexibility the key for student body president"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of profiles of students who are graduating this semester.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Joey Vijayam is a huge advocate for being involved \u2013 while being flexible. That\u2019s how he ended up being the student body president of the Student Government Association during his senior year at UCCS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t even thought of that a year and half ago,\u201d he said of his decision to run for the position in spring 2017. But the more involved he got on campus, the more appealing it sounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of student government gives me a chance to work with the administration, staff and other students, and I\u2019m really glad that I did that. Really being connected on campus helped grow my love for UCCS.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old biology major said he initially applied to UCCS because \u201cit made sense from a financial and location standpoint.\u201d He graduated from Pine Creek High School in north Colorado Springs.<\/p>\n

He was a commuter student for the first couple of years and thought he might transfer elsewhere to finish up his undergraduate degree. But as he took classes, he realized that UCCS has a great pre-med program and ties to the CU School of Medicine. So he stayed \u2013 and moved on campus for his final two years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI figured if I was going to graduate here, I was going to get the most out of it,\u201d Vijayam said. He joined the Green Action Fund and the Asian Pacific Islander Student Union, and then got involved in student government.<\/p>\n

The Student Government Association allocates thousands of dollars to clubs on campus and organizes and sponsors events. It raises money for the Student Relief Fund, which assists students who are ineligible for financial aid because of such things as immigration status. The organization also has worked hard on inclusiveness issues and helped develop a student creed, he says.<\/p>\n

This spring, it launched an inclusive campus campaign that included a pledge signed by more than 4,000 students to promote diversity and inclusiveness. \u201cWe want free expression of thought, but in a respectful manner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vijayam said it would have been easy for his student government duties to consume all of his time, but he worked to maintain balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we have to put school first, and that\u2019s been a challenge for me with student government,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be a student who just had an idea or dreamed about something \u2013 I wanted to do it.”<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you have to balance everything. Time management is something we continually learn and it\u2019s important to prioritize what\u2019s important to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said UCCS staff is supportive of students who want to pursue new ideas or programs. For example, he and a fellow student were encouraged to develop an idea they had into a problem-solving course for the Gateway Program Seminar, a fall semester class for all freshmen. That, he said was a particularly rewarding experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of favorite things about UCCS \u2013 that there are always teachers and higher ups who are willing to take a risk on us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His coursework also got him thinking about new possibilities for his future. Initially, he thought he\u2019d go to medical school. That\u2019s still a possibility, but Vijayam developed an interest in public health \u2013 and the many avenues to pursue a career in that field.<\/p>\n

He plans to refine his goals over the next year, applying for graduate school in public health or medical school \u2013 definitely something in the medical field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be cool to develop public health programs in rural communities and slum communities around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking pretty globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born and raised in India, he moved to Colorado Springs with his family when he was 10. While he most understands poverty in India, he says he\u2019s keeping his option of where he might focus open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to study for the medical exam and look at enrolling in fall 2019,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the meantime, I plan to stay in Colorado Springs. I\u2019m taking things one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

— by Sue McMillin
\n<\/em>— Photos by Jared Verner<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joey Vijayam is a huge advocate for being involved \u2013 while being flexible. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[42,106,134,60],"class_list":["post-31335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-commencement","tag-department-of-biology","tag-student-government-association","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/joey-tower.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-89p","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31335"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36022,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31335\/revisions\/36022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}