with the motto \u201cSwope Gives Hope.\u201d<\/a> His campaign priorities: \u201cInvolvement, culture and fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\u201cThese are issues I see that need a little bit of love and attention, especially coming out of COVID,\u201d he said. \u201cReally maximizing everyone to say, \u2018Hey, we can hang out again.\u2019 Just reviving a campus culture and school pride, creating a sense of home on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swope hopes to encourage his classmates to get involved with university organizations and activities. As a communication studies major, he also wants to keep the channels open for conversation \u2013 even if it means grabbing a broom to spruce up SGA headquarters in the Trone Student Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis office had not been cleaned or reorganized since the day they built it,\u201d laughed Swope. \u201cThe vibe was just off. So, as soon as we started this semester, I said, \u2018We\u2019re going to change that. We\u2019re going to make this a room where people can come in and just hang out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The SGA office has an open-door policy, and the president keeps his desk facing that door, welcoming anyone who enters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have any questions or just want to say hi or talk to us,\u201d he said, \u201cwe are here for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The office is almost a second home for Swope, who has served in SGA for his entire college career \u2013 as class president his first and second years and as class representative his junior year. Becoming SGA president \u201chas been a dream since my first year,\u201d Swope said.<\/p>\n
This enthusiasm for campus politics from Day 1 might surprise those who knew him in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the kid in the corner on my computer playing games in high school,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you were to show somebody from then where I\u2019m at now, they would laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n
But during his first days in college, \u201cI recognized that Furman was a whole bunch of new people and new opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cI realized that I could shape myself into who I\u2019ve always wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also plunged into a formidable array of organizations and activities, including the Astronomy Club, the International Students Association, the American Sign Language Club, the Ultimate Frisbee team, the Improvable Cause improv troupe, Homecoming Court, the Parking and Traffic Committee and the National Eating Disorder Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I go swing dancing once in a while,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His plans after graduation are up in the air, he said, although he is sure of a few things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to work with a team,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to get people excited about something. I want to motivate people. That\u2019s always been where my heart lies and where my passion is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A member of several campus organizations himself, the new student body president hopes to motivate his classmates to maximize their Furman experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":20044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-studies","category-student-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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