The Face of the Freshman Class

COURTESY PHOTO: CHAD LEIGH

Chad Leigh is PSUs Class of 2022 President and majors in Physical Education. When asked about his role as class president, Chad replied, “My role, specifically, is to hear the concerns of my fellow class members and to listen to the things they want, the things they may be interested with for class events, fundraisers. Things like that.”

Chad comes from Wakefield, New Hampshire, approximately an hour away from PSU. “I’ve been aware of Plymouth since I was young,” he said. “I felt, probably around 10th grade, that I wanted to be a P.E. major, and I knew that Plymouth had a really good program. I’ve kind of had my sights set on Plymouth since then.” A few of Chad’s on-campus pastimes include playing basketball in the HUB and going to the gym.

Aside from his obligations as class president, Chad is also a member of the Health and Human Performance Club. They are an organization comprised mostly of P.E. and Exercise Science majors. The group goes on different conference trips throughout the year to network with other P.E. majors. “We do a lot of community service, we want to give back to the community.”

Chad wanted to get involved in student government because he felt like he could have done more in high school. “I wanted to challenge myself more when I came to Plymouth. I wanted to do what I could for my class members. So I wanted to run for class president to express to them the best of my ability.”

The current semester is only Chad’s second at PSU. Nonetheless, he has already learned valuable lessons. “One of the most important skills I’ve learned at PSU is time management,” Chad said. “I think that the most important key to success is to plan out. ‘Tomorrow I will wake up, I’m going to eat breakfast, go to the gym. I’ll finish my homework then go to class’.”

As freshman class president, Chad finds himself in a unique position to the Clusters Initiative, PSUs efforts to work with local organizations. He said, “I think it will definitely help a lot of kids. Personally, it definitely helps us P.E. majors. We have a lot of work we need to do together, so it’s a good thing. As a freshman, I will be the first one who gets to work in it for four years. I’m excited to see the kinds of advantages I’ll get in the long term.”

When asked if there is something he wants his constituents to know of him they may not know already, Chad said, “If they’re not aware of how hard I’m willing to work for them, (and I am working for them), then they should know I am going to do it for them all throughout the next three years.”