Student Government President-Elect Emily Yu may not know how to ride a bicycle, but she has ridden an elephant on a recent family trip to Thailand.
“It was the first thing we did on the tour,” Yu said. “We got off the plane and they bussed us to this petting zoo and then we got to ride elephants, so that was really cool.”
Yu has also travelled to Taiwan, Japan, London and Paris en route to her visits to family in Hong Kong.
Now, she is looking forward to her next big adventure: the SG presidency.
Yu’s biggest project will be tackling student debt.
“I’ve talked a lot about fixed tuition rate and also about reassessing financial aid, giving students who aren’t just incoming freshman the opportunity to apply for merit-based financial aid and also looking into on-campus job opportunities,” Yu said.
Yu also wants to restructure the SG and hopes to get more students involved. She believes SG members need to reach out to students and should not wait for students to come to SG.
Yu said her biggest challenge will be dealing with dissenting opinions from current SG members about her plans for change.
“I know that a lot of people I’ve talked to throughout the campaign haven’t necessarily been involved in Student Government, so they’ve been very open and accepting to the changes I’ve proposed,” she said. “But I think it will be challenging to work with people who have been more involved in Student Government to see how receptive they will be to the changes I want to make.”
As part of the restructuring, Yu wants to incorporate Greek life more fully into SG.
“I brought up the idea of reaching out to more students, or perhaps non-greek students, through the Community Service Coalition, because as fraternities and sororities, we do have our own philanthropies and put on events or fundraisers on campus to benefit charities,” Yu said. “So I think funneling that through Student Government will help greek life prosper and reach out to more students, and perhaps get more students involved in greek life as well.”
Yu served the community long before she became a Phi Mu sister. She has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten.
As an adult, Yu lead a Columbia Heights high school Girl Scout troop during her first semester at AU and helped them work on the Congressional Eight Program, a weeklong internship on the Hill. Yu participated in the project during the summer after graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va.
She currently helps distribute applications and place girls in internships through the Congressional Eight Program.
“I think it is really important to give back to the community, especially after [AU worked] with the neighbors on passing the Campus Plan,” Yu said.
Yu also interns at the American Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit that researches and educates about government, social welfare, economic and political policies, focusing on higher education policy.
Yu became interested in higher education policy after coming to AU and working with the SG Senate. Her research into AU’s financial polities stemmed from this interest.
Yu’s mother and role model currently works as a middle school teacher, although Yu said her mom’s career didn’t influence her choice to work with higher education policy. She plans to take a Mediterranean cruise set up by her mother after she graduates.
As a debater for four years in high school, Yu describes herself as spontaneous and able to think on the spot. She looks forward to putting her own voice in the presidency.
“I think I like how much potential it has looking at the last couple of presidents I’ve been here for,” Yu said. “They’ve really made it their own and I can’t wait to put my own spin on things.”
Check out our video interview with Yu at http://bit.ly/HgHU3N.
