Meet K-State’s newest student body leaders: Paige Vulgamore and Jack O’Malley
For Paige Vulgamore and Jack O’Malley, one of the most important aspects of leadership
is listening.
And they’ve been doing a lot of listening recently on campus, first during their campaign
to become the next student body president and vice president, and now after they have
officially taken office.
“We made a point to listen to lots of students during our campaign to come up with
our goals, and we don't want that listening to stop,” O’Malley said.
“I think we are so fortunate to be in this position right now, and really excited
for the next year,” Vulgamore added. “This is not necessarily somewhere I thought
I would have been as a freshman. But through each experience I had at K-State and
in my involvement, I had this calling for leadership. I've really enjoyed the aspect
of representing students.”
The path to K-State
Vulgamore is a junior from Scott City, Kansas, who is studying agricultural economics,
and O'Malley is a sophomore from Wichita, Kansas, majoring in business.
Vulgamore grew up on a farm and has a lifelong love for K-State.
“I've always bled purple, I've always been interested in agriculture,” she said. “I'm
so thankful for my journey at K-State. I couldn't have made a better decision.”
She said her involvement during her time as a student at K-State has given her a sense
of purpose. She dove wholeheartedly into campus life early on as a freshman, through
organizations like fraternity and sorority life and student government.
“I've met so many more students than I probably would have, if I were not involved,”
she said. “There's so much you can do at K-State outside of just the classroom that
you can leave college with those skills.”
Both O’Malley’s parents came to K-State, as well as a grandparent, and he grew up
going to football and basketball games and exploring the campus.
“I looked at a few other schools, but I always knew I was going to end up at K-State,”
O’Malley said. “Because it's cliche, but it's the people.”
Although similar to Vulgamore, O’Malley didn’t have running for student body leadership
on his immediate radar, after taking a few weeks to ponder Vulgamore’s offer to be
her running mate, he decided to say yes.
“I didn't think there'd be a chance in other student organizations to make as big
of an impact as we could here,” O’Malley said. “I remember I kept thinking how cool
it would be if 10 years, 20 years, we could come back to campus and something we changed
or did was still here helping students.”
The path to progress
Vulgamore and O’Malley hope to come alongside President Richard Linton and other members
of university administration to advance K-State’s new strategic plan, including implementing
more opportunities for students to have a required hands-on learning experience, such
as studying abroad or working on a research project. O’Malley also adds that he and
Vulgamore have frequently heard from students that they’d like to have a place on
campus to study that’s open 24 hours.
“K-State is very unique. They care about student voices,” Vulgamore says. “And administration
always wants to make sure that we have a seat at the table, and that our voice is
heard. And I think that is so valuable. And I don't want to take that for granted.”
Vulgamore says that like many other universities and schools, K-State is looking to
increase enrollment numbers, and she sees many opportunities for outreach to prospective
students.
“I think one thing that's helping K-State bounce back is how passionate our alumni,
current students are,” O’Malley said. “There's such a positive experience over the
course of their four or however many years they were here at K-State, and they help
just by word of mouth, spread that to prospective students. So the alumni are really
currently pulling their weight when it comes to helping K-State.”
And as for how alumni can continue helping the K-State student body? Vulgamore and
O’Malley said they always appreciate alumni sharing their expertise with students,
through networking or internship opportunities. They’re also grateful for the many
generous donors who have supported student scholarships.
Both Vulgamore and O’Malley are appreciative of the alumni connections they’ve made
during their involvement with the K-State Alumni Association’s Student Alumni Board.
“We will facilitate a lot of different events for the Alumni Association to connect
past, present, current K-State students,” O’Malley said. “And through that, I think
both of us really realize how big of a role the Alumni Association plays.”
“We're really in a spot where you get to connect with so many alumni, and they are
very supportive,” Vulgamore added.