Six months ago, Sandy Patel was eyeing the position of Missouri Students Association secretary of auxiliaries. Last week, she finally got it.
“MSA has always been my passion,” Patel said. “I didn’t want to do one small thing, I wanted to do one big thing.”
Patel has been an MSA senator, served as a member of MSA Outreach, helped with the legislative advocacy officer position and aided with smaller roles in MSA. She got her big role in MSA, though, after Mahir Khan resigned to focus on his upcoming graduation and graduate school.
“I got more and more busy as I was approaching graduation,” Khan said. “I wasn’t able to do as much.”
Still, Khan helped MSA Vice President Zach Beattie discuss MSA’s 2014 Fiscal Year Budget with the various auxiliaries.
“Mahir was a tremendous asset to MSA, and he will continue to be as he plays a minor role in cabinet,” MSA President Nick Droege said.
Khan said he would help MSA in any way he can, just without the title of secretary of auxiliaries. Khan is now training Patel.
“I am confident she will do a good job and be a voice of the auxiliaries,” Khan said. “I couldn’t do that and I wish I could’ve, but Sandy will do that and (will) build relationships with the auxiliaries.”
Droege said he wants Patel to help support the auxiliaries through the tough budget year coming up.
“We have to band together and make sure the auxiliaries have what they need,” he said.
Patel said she would discuss those needs with auxiliary heads next week.
“We’re going to have to establish a huge marketing effort,” she said. “We’re going to get together and really hammer down what kind of grassroots efforts we want to do and what I can do to help them.”
Patel said she also wants to encourage auxiliary members to become MSA senators and get updated reports from the auxiliaries.
“I really want to be able to increase that communication and help the auxiliaries out,” she said. “It’s been a really strenuous budgetary process, and I think I’ve stepped in the right place to help them and make sure their voices are heard.”
