STRANGER THAN FICTION

Over the course of the past semester, I have taken very few chances to properly editorialize in this column. I often have drawn on world events and tried to make some attempt to relate them back to the student body here at CU Denver. But, I can’t help but feel like this week deserves to be different.

I ran for the office of Student Body President this past week. This process began three semesters ago when my Vice President, Frida Silva, approached me and asked if I wanted to run for this position. A year ago, I didn’t feel ready. I had completed exactly one semester at CU Denver and felt as if I could help the student body in more meaningful ways if I held other positions.

So, smash-cut to about seven months ago when I called Frida to shoot the question back to her. She was hesitant as she was interning at the Capitol building, an honor few political science students have. We went back and forth for a couple weeks and, with a winter break to make a platform and campaign agenda, we declared our candidacy.

The risk was massive for both of us. Frida had to give up her position at the Capitol and I had to withdraw from four on-campus jobs. It was terrifying to us. For Frida, her future goals and aspirations in politics were seriously on the line. For me, I knew I could only pay rent for about two months without any source of income filling my bank account.

But we went for it, hard. Frida and I put in 15 hour shifts every single day. And yet, Frida and I didn’t get elected because of ourselves. We owe this success to our friends and colleagues on campus. Every single day, people who I never asked to help us in any capacity would reach out to me and say, “Bro, I got you like 15 more votes” or “We printed out some stickers with your name on them!”

The kindness of these people deserve all the thanks we can give. Thank you, all of y’all (you know who you are) for what you’ve done for Frida and me. As we take over as leadership here, we will let your example guide our policies. We at least owe you that.