The year in review: report cards

Mark Gold talks about the busy fall, upcoming spring.

By: Meredith Zdenek

Posted: 12/1/08

"Being student body president is the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done, no doubt about it," Student Body President Mark Gold said.

As the semester draws to an end, leaving behind events such as Hurricane Ike and 1,500 Galveston students joining the College Station campus, Texas A&M Student Body President Mark Gold was asked for a report card grade on the performance of his first semester of duty.

"I think if I had to give myself a grade, it would be a 'B' because although we made a lot of progress, there is still room for improvement. But overall, I think we did pretty well first semester. I'm very pleased with the way our team is working right now," Gold said.

He said there are two main jobs he performs and both deal with representing the University.

"I have a lot of responsibilities just representing A&M, whether it's representing on campus by speaking at student organizations or events, sitting on stage when [President Elsa A. Murano] speaks with dignitaries and people like that, or sitting in on meetings and welcoming donors to campus.

"There are also times I represent A&M outside of the University, whether it's to Aggie Mom's Clubs or going to Austin to testify for bills and legislations that we want to see passed through the Congress," Gold said.

In addition to being student body president, Gold has to manage his responsibilities as a student. For the fall semester, Gold will be taking nine hours of classes in an attempt to keep up with his duties as student body president. He plans to take seven hours during the spring in anticipation of a busy semester.

"The biggest way I've grown in time management is learning how to delegate and manage my time wisely, " he said.

"I've got an incredible executive council. They're student leaders all across campus that are more than capable and equipped, and are definitely far more qualified than I am to sit in on different committees and speak to this group and that group," he said. "So when I need to study or go to class, then I can delegate to people around me that are more capable of doing the job than I would be able to do anyway."

A day in Gold's shoes consists of waking up and trying to spend at least 30 minutes to himself to staying on campus until anytime between 10:30 p.m. and midnight.

"Generally, I will have meetings in the morning, classes in the afternoon; usually I will have lunch with a student or meetings will go over lunch. By 5 [p.m.], my meetings are usually done and the administrators will leave, then I will go speak to a student group or function that night, get done with that around 8:30 or 9:30 [p.m.]."

"After that, I'd go back to my office and clean out all of my inboxes to try and respond to every e-mail that needs a response, make sure that what I told people that I would do that day would get done at that point and when I'm done with that, I'll leave," he said.

Though Gold's day is filled with meetings and sit-ins, he revealed that in his own time, he enjoys exercising and playing sports.

"I'm not very athletic, but I love to compete so anything athletic gets me going, definitely.

"My favorite would be baseball, no doubt, but it's hard to get so many people together, so it's usually basketball, frisbee or football that my friends and I will play because we usually don't need many people to do that," he said.

Gold said he looks forward to meeting President George W. Bush at the Graduation Convocation Commencement on Dec. 12.

"Regardless of your political beliefs, to meet a man that has led our country for eight years… I can't even fathom what it is like to be in his shoes for even one day, so to get to meet him for a little bit is incredible. It is going to be amazing," Gold said.

He said that he predicts the spring semester will be incredibly time-consuming, as well as stressful with upcoming issues and next year's campaigns for Yell Leaders and student body president.

"I mean, obviously the MSC renovation is going to continue to be a huge issue. We are having another referendum Dec. 1-3 to re-hear student opinions so that I can carry on those opinions to the decision-makers and they can act accordingly to it," Gold said.

"It's kind-of weird that spring brings new elections with Yell Leader and SBP, and that's crazy they are already campaigning for my spot. I feel like I just got it. That's going to be a huge issue and my job with that will be to help transition the next student body president and hopefully continue the positive of what we have started and to improve what we couldn't get started," he said.

Gold said he is excited about his upcoming semester as student body president.

"The reason that I hope that I come off as excited about what I do is because I love what I do," Gold said. "There is no better opportunity I've had than what I have to represent this school in this type of capacity."