The Face of the Sophomore Class

COURTESY PHOTO

Avery Jones is the Class of 2021’s President and Representative for the Student Apartments in the Student Senate. She’s a business major and this is her first year as the class president.

As her class’s president, Avery sees her main responsibility as reaching out to her constituents and hearing their opinions and concerns. She wants to reach as many Sophomores as she can so that she can represent their concerns in the Student Senate.

When she isn’t fulfilling her senate responsibilities, she works with a group on campus called Enactus, an international student organization. “It’s a social entrepreneurial group. People think it’s only a business club but we have environmental majors and graphic design. And I really think that helps with the cluster approach because we have a bunch of different majors coming together in a club,” she said. The club works with the local community. Avery said, “We see a problem in the community and we create a project. Usually it’s student-lead so we have a bunch of different students leading projects, helping the community and giving back.”

Aside from her work in the senate and with Enactus, Avery enjoys hiking, working out in the gym, and dancing.

When asked why she joined the Student Senate, Avery said, “I felt, coming here as a freshman, I saw in the election process there wasn’t a whole lot of people wanting to be in the student government, in my class at least. And I thought there needed to be someone that people could go to, someone that’s approachable. So I thought there needed to be someone to reach out to, to have that voice for other students and I feel like I can do that pretty well.”

Avery still hasn't solidified her future endeavors yet, “I’m not 100% sure of what I want to do. I’m a business major. I was dabbling a little bit in marketing, so maybe something in that field. I want to find a job where I can help people.”

During her two years at PSU, the biggest change in her opinion has been the clusters initiative. The greatest controversy she’s witnessed during her time was the new housing policy announced a few months ago, the one that caused a massive student uproar. Since she is the president of the Sophomore class, the policy affected most of her constituents. “They were coming to me and they were saying ‘Hey I don’t like this,’ or, ‘Is this really happening?’” she said. “I really had to sit back and email a bunch of kids, which I usually don’t do. I had to give them more detail because what they were hearing wasn’t the whole story.”

Last year Avery was the secretary and noted many changes she wanted to implement as president. Work is never done for any class president, and Avery is aware of that. That is why she plans on running again for next year.