Written by Student Body President Christian Ragland.
What can the College of the Liberal Arts do for you? I say that the College of Liberal Arts can do everything for you and will certainly lay a great foundation geared towards your success.
I like to think of myself as one of the many success stories that come from the College of the Liberal Arts. Coming into my last and senior year, I am blessed to be able to say that I hold the position of the Penn State Student Body President. Now I could not have gotten to this point without some help. Besides my faith and the support of my family, the College of the Liberal Arts has played a key role in the development of my leadership skills which allowed me to get elected Student Body President.
To start from the beginning, when I first came to Penn State, I came here with a passion to lead people to better things and better environments. I didn’t care if my leadership would be in the realms of student government, community development, or the federal government; I just knew that I was passionate about leading people to the next levels of their lives. So I quickly realized that my home for the next four years would be in the College of the Liberal Arts as a Political Science and Sociology candidate. At the same time, I also got involved with student government as well because I saw student government as a foundation builder to the next level of leadership in my life. Now how does this all have to do with me winning my election? The opportunities afforded to me by the College of the Liberal Arts were by far some of the main keys to my success. The Political Science and Sociology classes that I took helped me understand academically the role of passionate leaders in our society and the history of those leaders who came before me. The many internships provided by the College helped me gain the experience needed to become a credible leader. The alumni who continue to give back to the college have paved the way for me to be able to follow in their footsteps. So in essence, becoming Student Body President was quite easy now that I think about it, because the College of the Liberal Arts continuously prepared me for the role.
So again, what can the College of the Liberal Arts do for you? The real question is what can’t our College do for you? The diversity of academic disciplines, people, and real experiences in the College of the Liberal Arts is what I believe to be the heart of the College. Now in essence, it is up to us students to continue the legacy of the College of the Liberal Arts. I do not know about you, but I plan to continue to make the College more prestigious and promising by becoming an expert and a leader with the tools that the College of the Liberal Arts afforded me.
For the Glory,
Christian Dupree Ragland
Student Body President