Reflecting on year by Madsen

This archived article was written by: Hailey Evans

Luke Madsen, USU Eastern’s outgoing student body president, has been a loud voice and great advocate for the students. During his presidency, he said he established many great relationships and connected with many of the students and administration.
The numbers go to show, that it has been a successful year for the Eastern Utah Student Association. Student involvement has increased dramatically and projects to help improve student life have been established, he said.
At the beginning of his presidency, Madsen had a goal to hear the voice of the students. When he was running, he went around and wrote down ideas from the students throughout campus. These ideas ranged from toilet seat covers, to having child care on campus for non-traditional students. Madsen acted on these ideas, and a fund from student fees has been established to help with this service. Many other ideas have been brought forward such as putting in a firepit by the fountain, to help create more friendly environments for students to hang out in and improve student life on campus. Student government also made a generous donation from their accounts, for the construction of the new building.
Overall, Madsen says that this position was everything he anticipated it to be, however, losing Fernando Alcántar as their adviser, definitely brought forth some challenges. Despite some of the unexpected twists, Madsen felt that the members of student government really stepped up in fulfilling their duties. It was made sure that there was always someone from student government in meetings so that there was always student voices present. Madsen encourages Ben Bjarnson, next year’s EUSA President, to establish strong connections with the administration, along with the student body, so that there is a direct line of communication and student voices can be heard.

If he could, would he run again, he said he definitely would. He really enjoyed being able to be involved and serve in this leadership position, sitting in on meetings being able to see the love that the administration has for this school. He enjoys being able to get to know the students, and seeing that he can make a difference here at USU Eastern.

Being in his first year of marriage with his wife Morganne, and being a part of the USU Eastern’s baseball team on top of serving in this position, Madsen obviously has his plate full of responsibility. When asked what comes first, he immediately responded that he always tries to put his wife first, then student government and baseball are of equal importance because of the responsibilities that he has in both. He is grateful for the opportunities that he has been given, including the scholarships he received to help pay for his schooling. He plans to continue his education at Utah State University in Logan, to eventually become an orthodontist one day.

Madsen hopes to end this school year with a bang, and continue to get to know more of the students on campus while strengthening the relationships that he has already made. He would also like to encourage anyone who has any concerns or ideas they would like to share with him to feel free to contact him by email at [email protected].