What song would you say best describes you and why?
“I would pick ‘Pocket Full Of Sunshine’. There is a quote I live by which is ‘Bloom where you are planted’, whatever situation you are thrown in you have the opportunity to make whatever you want out of it. Even though your day is rough and so much is thrown at you, there is something bright about your day. You can turn a day around in an instant.
If there is one thing you can change on Ball State’s campus what would it be?
“There’s a mentality of IU or Purdue do it better. We always look at them but we go to such a great university. We don’t need to be IU. We should appreciate everything Ball State has to offer. You go to Ball State and love that you go to Ball State.”
Editor’s Note: This is the first of four stories to run that will feature the slate leading up to their inauguration.
As the first match of the intermural volleyball Championship finished up, the future secretary of the Student Government Association stepped over toward his fraternity brothers and fans, encouraging them to be louder.
The nearly 60-person crowd at Tuesday’s volleyball game was about half the population of Austin Acel’s hometown of Guys Mills, Pa.
“Living in the middle of nowhere, it was my family and myself,” he said. “Any chance I got to go outside of the setting I was in to experience something new was awesome.”
Acel grew up on a dairy farm and often has trouble convincing people his family has 200 dairy cows. Living in such a rural area, he said, made it difficult to meet new people.
After living in a town with just over 100 people, Acel made the leap to Muncie, a town of 70,000. He said back in his hometown the nearest Walmart was a 20-minute drive.
Acel was the first person in his family to attend college and the first in his county to attend Ball State.
“I came in not knowing a single person and I love the experience I got,” he said. “I am glad I went far: I’m more about the experience.”
During his freshmen year he got involved in hall council and club volleyball in order to quell some of his homesickness.
“I wanted to immerse myself in the community and tried to get to know as many people as I could,” he said. “I would just walk around the halls in my building and say ‘Hey, what’s up, I’m Austin’.”
One of Acel’s major milestones since attending Ball State is becoming a founding father of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi.
He said he didn’t have any intentions to be involved in Greek Life until he got the opportunity to establish a new chapter of a fraternity.
“I thought it was life-changing and it’s something I could say I started at Ball State,” he said.
Casey Miller, junior journalism major and president of Pi Kappa Phi, has seen Acel in action as secretary of his fraternity.
“He understands what people need on an individual level, he is good about getting to know individuals and how to motivate those individuals,” Miller said. “I think the transition into student government will be seamless for him.”
Acel said he is excited to meet new people once Atlas takes office. He is looking forward to hearing students’ backgrounds and what they have done here at Ball State. He said that through SGA he wants to be able to learn from people and help them grow.
Upon graduation, Acel said he wants to work with student affairs or at the headquarters for his fraternity, which has opened many doors for him.
“I love what the organization has given to me and would like to give back,” he said.
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