Natalie Parks: Becoming the next Student Body President of Texas A&M
Natalie Parks is a junior Communications major from Denton, Texas. She wears many hats here at Texas A&M; Parks serves as a member of the Kappa Delta sorority as well as the current Junior Class President. Because of her passion for Texas A&M and her fellow classmates, Natalie made the bold decision to run as the next Student Body President. Although she knew about the obstacles that would work against her when deciding to run, her dedication to this university and for increasing diversity overrode her fears. With hard work and passion, her dreams of becoming the next Student Body President manifested into reality.
Who is Natalie Parks?
Natalie Parks is a junior Communications major from Denton, Texas. She wears many hats here at Texas A&M; Parks serves as a member of the Kappa Delta sorority as well as the current Junior Class President. Because of her passion for Texas A&M and her fellow classmates, Natalie made the bold decision to run as the next Student Body President. Although she knew about the obstacles that would work against her when deciding to run, her dedication to this university and for increasing diversity overrode her fears. With hard work and passion, her dreams of becoming the next Student Body President manifested into reality.
How does it feel to be the next Student Body President of Texas A&M?
Becoming the next Student Body President was a surreal experience for Natalie. Her freshman self would’ve never been able to fathom her current state. Being able to serve her fellow Aggies is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she will make the most out of. Although the position carries esteemed authority and high rank, Natalie remains humble and honored to be able to represent the student body. With the intense amount of responsibility a Student Body President must uphold, Natalie is not going to stand down and will uphold her duties to the highest regard.
What inspired you to run for Student Body President?
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou
A motto that Natalie lives by was a quote previously restated at the Memorial Student Center on campus. Her core purpose is to help others and make positive changes in her environment. Every day, she strives to put others first and aspires to make others feel special and loved. Being approachable and welcoming towards anyone she encounters is just a part of who she is. Even though she now carries the role of Student Body President, she intends on remaining approachable and staying true to herself. All of this was evident in her campaign. Natalie and her team worked tirelessly, all reaffirming that she cares deeply about the needs of the student body of Texas A&M. Now, her top priority is to ensure that she efficiently expresses the voices of the students and uses that voice to implement change for the betterment of A&M.
What did it feel like to be the only girl to run for the position?
Being the only girl out of the six candidates to run for Student Body President, Natalie described the experience as an “uphill battle.” Just like many other women who have pursued high status positions predominantly taken by men, she faced significant adversity. However, she wasn’t surprised that these kinds of obstacles would occur and prepared for these setbacks. Because of her strong desire to incorporate more women and minority groups in SGA, she was able to push past all of the obstacles. She hopes that her campaign promoted women’s empowerment in leadership positions that would inspire other Aggie women to fight against these gender norms. Not to mention, by inspiring her fellow females here at Texas A&M that anything is possible, the same message will be passed on to all future students.
What kind of challenges did you face during your campaign?
“At the end of the day, I used these [challenges] to make me stronger.”
Parks references Taylor Swift’s song “The Man” because she felt as though if she were a man instead of a woman, people would’ve taken her more seriously. This is the unfortunate reality for many women who fight against prevalent gender norms. However, adversity did stop Natalie in any way. Instead of backing down, Natalie adjusted to the situation and used her voice to promote diversity into different leadership positions in order to better represent the increasingly growing student body. She worked incredibly hard on her social media campaign to increase her networking and reach out to as many Aggies as possible. Even when people criticized her campaign, she did not let these attacks bring her down and continued to lead in a positive and professional manner. After all, her focus was on the student body, not her competitors. This positive mindset and willingness to selflessly serve paid off and earned her the most amount of votes. After running for the position, Natalie hopes that her victory will inspire other women and minorities to be brave and run for such high positions. The only way systemic oppression can be broken is by having more diverse people take initiative and put themselves out there, just like Natalie did.
How do you plan on serving the student body?
Although Natalie has a long list of duties on her agenda, the first order of business is to recruit a cabinet that represents every group on campus. Natalie believes the leadership in SGA should be representative of the increase in diversity within the student body. That is why she wants to create an environment that enriches everyone at this university. Natalie’s selfless attitude and desire to include all who walk this campus was reflected in her campaign. Listening to other student’s experiences and their voices will be the main premise of her job. She even notes that the theme of her campaign and her actions in office is to create a “TAMU by you.” This means that even though she holds the title of Student Body President, the student body are ultimately the leaders who will be making the changes. Natalie is a strong commander who will work to instill positive changes at this institution, and Texas A&M could definitely use more people like her.
Article Written by Ashley Alvarado & Jewel Day, Photos by August Nennmann, Design by Alyssa Hoppie, Media by Gabriela Ayala