Good morning, afternoon or evening to you all. You may know me as the president, the author, the tutor, the tour guide or simply as the peppy guy with tired eyes giving all the speeches. But, at the end of the day, I simply prefer ‘Carter’ above all other titles.  

I write to you all now not only as the president of an organization known as Student Senate, but as a student at Wayne State College, drowning in assignments, responsibilities and stressors, just like you.  

As the president of Student Senate, and more importantly, as a student, I struggle with recognizing the path to success requires a great deal of sacrifice.  

However, it is through the most taxing of these trials that we experience the greatest of rewards. When we began this year of Student Senate, I was aware of the task-ridden path stretched out before us, but I could not comprehend what would be required of me to lead this senate and student body into an era of positive, respectable representation.  

The lesson I have now learned is I am not alone. I am not alone in wanting to bring positive change to WSC. It is by this lesson I am happy to say we, Student Senate, are working tirelessly to bring this change to positively impact the atmosphere of our campus.  

With the aided creation of clubs on campus such as the Scrat Pack, Buffett Scholars and Music Teacher National Association (MTNA), we are fostering club and organization cooperation.  

With distributions to organizations such as Pi Kappa Delta, Associated General Contractors and WSC Disc Golf, we are prioritizing recruiting efforts, service-learning projects and the completion of renovations that positively impact our campus and community.  

With collaborations and discussions between offices and organizations at Wayne State College, we have largely improved participation, campus representation and our understanding of what is expected from us as student leaders.  

I have held true to one ideal from the beginning of this journey until now, and I intend to carry it until the end. We do not aim to be better. We aim to be different. With what we have accomplished and what is yet to come, I am confident we will accomplish our goals and bring the change we need.  

And the best part? We are just getting started.