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By
Barry McNamara
A president in her own right, Monmouth College
senior Paige Halpin didn’t name her preferred candidate when she sat
down for recent interview. But she was willing to share some
president-to-president advice.
“I’ve definitely learned the value of surrounding yourself with good
people, and that it’s important to put the right people in the right
positions,” said Halpin, who is in the middle of a one-year term as
president of the Associated Students of Monmouth College.
“Things are going really well,” she said of her time in office. “I have
a great executive board, and they provide a lot of support. We’re
approving lots of constitutions, and we’re also working to make our own
constitution better. Making those revisions has been a long process.”
Looking ahead to the rest of her term, she said, “One of our goals is to
get more students involved on faculty committees. That’s where students
can get their voices heard the most. We’re also thinking ahead and
collaborating with ASAP (Association for Student Activity Programming)
on Scots Day. We want to get more student input on what they’d like to
see.”
Could Halpin see being part of government after she graduates from
Monmouth?
“My family jokes that I should get into politics,” she laughed, “but I
don’t know if I have the guts.”
Halpin’s student body presidency is just the tip of her campus
involvement iceberg. A member of Alpha Xi Delta, she was the 2008 Greek
Woman of the Year, and she also earned the Freshman Female of the Year
honor in 2006. She has served as president of the Panhellenic Council
and is a Scot Ambassador, a dormitory head resident, a member of the
president’s advisory committee and a student chaplain. She also serves
as a writing tutor, academic coach and teaching assistant.
“I started a little slow,” Halpin said, recalling her freshman year. “I
waited a semester to get involved. I knew I wanted to do music and
theater, but then I got addicted on student government. I was originally
part of it through my involvement with Newman Club. I was a senator, and
Richard Harrod asked me to be his vice president when he ran for
president.”
Besides her involvement in student government, Halpin has also enjoyed
her community service work.
“I took an Alternative Spring Break trip to Connecticut when I was a
sophomore, and while I was there, I saw some things that would be
effective if they were done in Monmouth. So last spring, I helped
organize a group that stayed in Monmouth over Spring Break and did
various projects. Being involved in community service will always be a
part of my life.”
That opportunity helped Halpin experience off-campus life, and so does
her regular attendance at Faith United Presbyterian Church.
“It’s good to get outside of the Monmouth College bubble every once in a
while,” she said.
When it came to picking a college, Halpin said she “just knew” that
Monmouth was the right place for her, likening her decision to when a
woman knows she has met Mr. Right.
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Halpin (center) with
Monmouth Professors Stacy Cordery (left) and Rob Hale
(right). |
“The campus itself was so beautiful, and I spoke with a few faculty
members, and they were all so nice,” she added. “(History professors)
Stacy and Simon Cordery have been amazing. I’m also majoring in English,
so Rob Hale has been my adviser. They’ve all pushed me and challenged me
in ways that I didn’t think possible. They’ve also made me comfortable
with my decision to pursue graduate school.”
In fact, Hale and Stacy Cordery accompanied Halpin to Springfield last
weekend as she was honored as one of approximately 50 Lincoln Laureates
in the state. Each year, an outstanding senior who exhibits overall
excellence in curricular and extracurricular programs is selected from
each of the four-year, degree-granting institutions of higher learning
in Illinois. The students are awarded a medallion of Lincoln, a
certificate of merit and a small stipend and thereby become a Student
Laureate. They are chosen by the chief executive officers of their
respective institutions.
“Each Lincoln Laureate represents the best of the best, both
curricularly and co-curricularly, at each college in the state of
Illinois,” said Jacquelyn Condon, MC’s vice president for student life
and dean of students. “The ‘best of the best’ certainly describes Paige.
She is not only accomplished academically but has been an outstanding
student leader and a tremendous asset to the college and to the
community.”
As Monmouth’s Lincoln Laureate, she will be asked to give an address on
behalf of her graduating class at the 2009 commencement. Asked to offer
a sneak preview of what she might say to her classmates, Halpin thought
for a moment, then replied, “To not take Monmouth College for granted,
and to realize how great it is. Sometimes, students have an easy time
finding faults, but they all came here four years ago for a reason, and
they stayed here for four years.”
Reflecting on her own experience, she said of Monmouth College, “It’s
allowed me to change my mind, and figure out what I want to do most.
It’s been a good experience to go to a school where all the people
aren’t like me. It’s helped me realize that the Midwest is not the
center of the universe.”
Returning to the presidential election, Halpin said an issue that
interests her is “improvements to college financial aid. I think that’s
an issue that often gets pushed to the side, especially with the way the
economy is.”
Although she’s a senior with less than a year left at Monmouth, her days
of paying for college are far from over. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in
history, a journey that will take “six to eight years” to complete.
“One day, I’d like to teach at a college like Monmouth,” she said.
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Released
by the Office of College Communications
Barry McNamara, Associate Director of College Communications
Phone: 309-457-2117
Fax: 309-457-2330
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