ost students, might not understand the importance of being involved in their campus community, but one animal science student is proving the value of campus involvement and finding your place.
Walker Carson from Turkey, Texas, is a senior animal science major, with chemistry and Spanish minors at Texas Tech University.
Carson is also currently chief of staff for the Student Government Association at Texas Tech. He became involved with SGA as a first year student when he joined Freshman Council and later served for two years as a College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources senator.
“You’re gaining life skills by getting involved in these organizations.”
Not only is Carson affiliated with SGA, but he is also a member of Block and Bridle, an Honors College student and served as a research assistant for graduate student coordinator, Bradley Johnson, in the Department of Animal and Food Science.
“My job as the chief of staff is to be a liaison between the main executive officers in SGA,” Carson said, “and I have definitely seen a whole different side of student government that I wasn’t aware of.”
One of Carson’s jobs as chief of staff, alongside the SGA president, Sean Lewis, is to have meetings with faculty to discuss issues SGA sees affecting students.
“Getting to talk to faculty members about what directly affects students has been very effective,” Carson said. “They, a lot of the times, think an idea is best, but it may not be necessarily, and they just needed another student’s opinion to help guide them.”
Sean Lewis from Virginia Beach, Virginia, is a senior history major, political science minor and is the student body president at Texas Tech University.
“Walker is a big advocate for agriculture and educating people who may not know much about it,” Lewis said. “The importance of it and how it affects our daily lives and Walker understands agriculture is his foundation and he will always give credit to that.”
Carson said the most valuable thing a prospective student can be told is to get involved because it creates friendships they may not have found otherwise and keeps students active on campus which is important.
“You’re gaining life skills by getting involved in these organizations,” Carson said. “You’re learning time management and you’re learning to apply these skills to life and I think those are really important things.”