With a new year comes new responsibilities and new memberships in the various councils and groups around AAU. A new student council committee was already selected but Patrick Engels, a first year international relations student wanted to be a part of the action. Engels became a proactive part of the AAU community by presenting his desire to be a part of the student council. On Oct. 8, he was nominated and became the newest member of the council.

In order for this to happen, Engels approached the council and expressed his desire to be a part of the panel and then took it upon himself to write a motivational letter. He was also required to verbally present his reasons for wanting to join, which took place the same day as his acceptance.

President Tanya Bechev comments, “We accepted Patrick’s self-nomination because we want the SC to be a platform where students are able to make a difference in their academic environment. We believe that Patrick will utilize this opportunity to the best of his ability and hope that this decision will contribute towards the SC being an inclusive and diverse organization.”

However, not all the members of the student council were so keen on receiving a new member almost half way into the semester. Vice-president, Radovan Fafilek comments, “I just think we have enough people and that there does not need to be any new members. No other reason than that.” Even though there were several votes against Engels, his membership was favored by enough of the members to accept him.

Now that Engels is part of the student council, he says that he hopes to “influence what goes on at AAU in regards to academic life for students.” He adds, “I think us students can better understand what we want, what we want changed and what we need at university…better than the staff that is and since all the students cannot be brought into those types of conversations, the Student Council is here for that.”

Juggling school-work, writing articles for At The Lennon Wall and his duties for the student council will be a challenge but as most students at AAU show balancing university studies and extracurricular activities is doable.