The Popcorn Chicken Advocate

As student body president for the 2020-21 school year at Olivet Nazarene University, Lily Jarzabkowski works in two main hemispheres: Associated Student Council (ASC) and Administration. Her interactions with ASC include working with class councils and the executive council. Jarzabkowski mentors class presidents, helps them lead their groups, helps plan events, encourages good morale, and helps raise leaders. Her work with the Executive Council includes leading them in their respective areas, and helps mentor and foster community. Jarzabkowski says that working with the Executive Council has been a real privilege.

Jarzabkowski also meets with Woody Webb, vice president for student development, every Tuesday.

“He’s a great mentor and we pray for the student body every meeting,” Jarzabkowski said.

They meet about all kinds of issues relevant to the school, one being that “the popcorn chicken in Farmer’s Field is not very good. We fixed it though,” she said. Farmer’s Field is one of the dining options on campus.

They also meet about things like the Listening Sessions, which allow for students of color to share about their experiences at Olivet and ways to make it better.

Jarzabkowski also has standing meetings with the president of Olivet, Dr. Bowling.

“It’s not just me meeting, it’s bringing the student body behind me,” she said. “There are a lot of things I really like about my job. One of the biggest honors is being able to represent the students of Olivet … being able to listen to peoples’ stories and being able to bring that to the table is so cool.”

Although Jarzabkowski has served on ASC for four years (class representative for two years and  Executive for Student Relations for one year prior to being student body president), she has run into some surprises.

“COVID. COVID’s been really surprising,” she said.

Although she expected leading meetings to come naturally, part of the surprise has been “learning how to safely hold a meeting with 50 people It’s learning how to effectively lead a meeting on Zoom with 20-year-olds who all know how to text on their computers.”

But this hasn’t been the only surprise.

“What’s also been surprising is how many people I’ve met,” she said,

Jarzabkowski implemented monthly meetings with Multiethnic Student Services. Especially this year, she’s had to ask herself, “What does it mean to effectively represent everyone on campus? What are ways that we’ve maybe hurt people in the past? And how can we fix it?”

Jarzabkowski especially appreciated meeting with Cynthia Taylor, Olivet’s multiethnic student services director, and members of the Black Student Christian Association. These meetings have been a fulfillment of one of Jarzabkowski’s goals made prior to this school year to “facilitate deeper collaboration between different student leadership groups, including strengthening the relationship between Multiethnic Student Services and ASC,” as described in a Faces of Olivet feature on Jarzabkowski posted on Olivet’s website June 6, 2020*.

Jarzabkowski has had to adapt with COVID by coming up with safe and fun outlets for class and all-school events. Two of her initiatives included Nights at the Plex and Rec City. 

Making spaces that are safe within COVID restrictions have been important.

“The University’s COVID Planning Steering Committee is working diligently to review and adjust campus protocols in order to ensure our safety. Continued cooperation will be imperative for the health and well-being of our community,” wrote Jarzabkowski in a letter to the student body prior to the start of the Spring semester.

“The continuing disruption of society caused by COVID-19 has left many educational institutions struggling to satisfy the conflicting wants and needs of their constituents,” writes Mike Kennedy in his article “The Chaos of Coming Back,”  included in the American School and University Magazine in September 2020.

Being student body president has taught Jarzabkowski a lot.

“I think I’ve grown in my confidence a little more,” she said.

Jarzabkowski said been able to hone her leadership qualities. She has also learned how to lead an effective meeting and that there doesn’t have to be “death-by-meeting.”

Jarzabkowski has learned to balance work and building relationships by having fun. For example, she said that the next ASC meeting will include a dodgeball game and that the Executive team will be meeting at Taco John’s. 

When asked what she’ll miss most about Olivet after graduating, Jarzabkowski said “the community.” Over the course of her years at Olivet, she’s appreciated the genuine interactions and authenticity.

“Looking at each week, I can always say that there’s at least one time that somebody genuinely will ask how you are doing, and they care, and I think that’s rare to see on a college campus,” she said.

After graduating this spring, Jarzabkowski plans on attending law school. She wants to be an advocacy lawyer looking at human rights, constitutional rights, as well as disability advocacy as kind of a focus.” She hopes to attend a school in the Chicago area, but also applied to schools in the East Coast. Jarzabkowski received her first law school acceptance on March 2.