It’s been a few weeks since student trustee Marlee Jacocks attended her first Board of Trustees meeting, and since then, Jacocks has found herself looking to become more receptive to students, educated about Ball State, but most importantly — reminding everyone she’s also a student.
“I very much want to still be me, and so that always comes first, just always being myself,” Jacocks said. “I also just anytime that my friends bring it up or other students, ‘Oh we saw the article in the Daily News’ I always just try to remind them, ‘Yes I’m in this position, but I’m also a student first. I’m just as much a student as them.”
REALTED: Meet Ball State's new student trustee - Marlee Jacocks
Before her first meeting, Jacocks spoke with the Daily News about some of her goals as a student trustee. While those goals haven’t changed, Jacocks said she is looking to become more receptive to all student issues.
“I just really want to try and be more receptive to everybody on campus and just hearing everyone’s Ball State story that they have and understanding their experience and getting acquainted with their concerns and just really knowing the campus, I’d say that’s a goal in itself,” Jacocks said.
As far as her vision for her term, Jacocks is looking to leave an impression on the university.
“I’m just really excited to get to know campus and the university and try to make it more exciting and a better place than it already is, and that’s something I know that I’ll take with me after my term and when I graduate,” Jacocks said. “I’ll always have Ball State to look back on to remember this is what built me into the person I am today.”
Despite the first meeting taking place in July, she said members of the board, like chair Rick Hall, reached out before to help with her transition.
“Rick is a great leader. He actually reached out to me in the beginning of the summer before we were even back on campus, before we even had our first trustee meeting, he invited me to dinner with his family and one of the previous trustees, who’s actually from the area,” Jacocks said. “That was just really nice because I was able to sit down with him and just learn more about the board and the trustee position and learn more from his as well.”
In addition to Hall’s advice, Jacocks has reached out to former student trustees Dustin Meeks and Kyle Pierce, about their experience as the student trustee.
“I would say those [testimonies from Meeks and Pierce] have played a really important part because, as beneficial as advice is from other trustees and members of the cabinet, it’s kind of a whole different ball game when you’re a student as a trustee,” Jacocks said.
The first meeting was overwhelming, Jacocks said, but she is looking forward to the next meeting to share her perspective.
“I will say honestly the first meeting was overwhelming, but I think that’s always to be expected when you’re in a new position,” Jacocks said. “What I’m most excited for, for the next meeting, is just being able to give my perspective as a student because I know that’s something that its really valued by the board because they don’t have eyes and ears on campus every single day like a student does.”
The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Sept. 8.
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