On any given day, the president of Seton Hall’s Student Government Association (SGA) has a jam-packed schedule.
Jackson “Jack” Vaughn, a senior business major, recalled a busy day in his life that started off with a Board of Regents meeting where he presented ideas for the betterment of the student body, before heading to his business policy class. After class, he went to his on-campus job, tutoring students as they prepare for finals.
Later, he led an informal meeting with his executive board. After, as a mentor for younger students in the Buccino Leadership Institute, he viewed the “Ideas and Trends” presentation given by some students in the program. And finally, Vaughn closed out the day meeting with more students to help them get some last-minute tutoring prior to leaving for his home state of Tennessee.
Vaughn is in his last semester at SHU, where he began his journey as a freshman in the Buccino Leadership Institute program. Vaughn says this program emphasizes that great leaders show “servant leadership.”
That mission stuck with him over the years, so much so that Vaughn aspires for it to be his legacy.
“My position isn’t to push people down, but to lift people up,” Vaughn said.
By his sophomore year, Kai Hansen, the SGA president at the time, invited Vaughn to join the organization. As a result, Vaughn became the business senator.
The following year, Hansen recruited Vaughn to serve as a treasurer on his executive board.
“I took that leap from somebody who studied leadership to somebody who practiced leadership on the SGA e-board,” Vaughn said.
Taking the opportunity to study under Hansen and learn how to be an effective SGA president, Vaughn said he decided to take the opportunity to run the next year.
During his campaign, Vaughn hoped to bring more attention to SGA, knowing that, in previous years, SGA may have been perceived by students as formal and inaccessible.
“SGA isn’t an autocracy, and decisions made about club approvals were not made by me nor my executive board alone, but by the student senate... I will support decisions made by them,” Vaughn said.
“I want to paint SGA as an entity that is truly here for all students with an executive board that will respond when you reach out to them,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn does acknowledge, however, that not all feedback will be positive.
“I know that backlash is a natural byproduct of high-level leadership,” Vaughn said. “A mentor of mine once told me that if people aren’t upset with you, you probably aren’t doing anything important. I do my best to represent the student body as a whole, but I understand that not every decision will please everyone.”
When facing difficult decisions, Vaughn understands that it’s easy for the public to blame the organization’s leader.
“In those situations, I’m fortunate to have a close circle of family and friends that I can trust and fall back on,” Vaughn said. “This is what I signed up for, and I’m confident that this experience will prepare me well for leadership in the corporate world.”
In comparing the difference between his leadership skills from freshman year to now, Vaughn noted that he has gained more confidence since first joining Buccino.
“My leadership style has changed from somebody who sits back to somebody that is willing to take charge and be the main voice in the room,” Vaughn said. “Over the years, I’ve been put in positions where I’ve had to take more initiative.”
Vaughn considers SGA “a huge honor” and something he has been very “fortunate” to be a part of. He credits his e-board with providing a greater representation to the student body by being a voice for all students. His e-board consists of Bryce Miller as Vice President, Ewa Pekala as Treasurer, and Sumaiya Rehman Illyas as Secretary.
Communication was a large challenge for Vaughn’s administration to tackle, especially with the clubs and organizations SGA oversees. Vaughn’s solution involved “email lists and dedicated executive board members” as well as building a presence to be on-campus resources.
When it came to choosing his vice president, Vaughn chose “one of the most social human beings” he had ever met: Bryce Miller.”
“I chose someone who lives on campus that is social and extroverted so that we have that representation, thus showing that SGA has people that are accessible to all students,” Vaughn said.
He built the rest of his e-board around these same ideas.
“My four-person team represents a variety of classes, cultures, religions, races, and states,” Vaughn said. “We work well together and hang out in our free time as well.”
Vaughn says his main job is “to be a voice for the students.” His primary focuses have been Career Center reform and increasing news access for students.
In previous years, Vaughn said that the Career Center didn’t have the necessary resources to serve students as they sought job opportunities before graduation. Realizing this problem, Vaughn insisted that the issue needed to be brought to the university.
“We expect to see that change hopefully within the next 5 years,” Vaughn said.
Currently, Vaughn also said that he meets with the vice president of Student Services on a biweekly basis to help solve this problem as well.
Through his journey as a SHU Pirate, Jack Vaughn mentioned that he attributes a large portion of his leadership development to Ruchin Kansal, a professor in the Stillman School of Business.
“His wisdom commands trust, and his challenging approach pushes people out of their comfort zone,” Vaughn said of his mentor. “His guidance in my first year of college set me on a track to ultimately lead the student body in my last year of college.”
Vaughn doesn’t only care about keeping students well-informed; he cares about the well-being of students, too, especially those who are entering a new job or experience. With that, Vaughn said that finding balance is important, but that that shouldn’t come without taking risks.
“During a recent conference... I said ‘in order to take care of people, you have to take care of yourself,’” Vaughn said.
Vaughn will carry this notion into his life post-grad, as he prepares to graduate in the spring.
“I plan to work in financial services post-grad,” Vaughn said. “Outside of work, I hope to travel the world and check more countries off my bucket list. The presidency has helped me realize that I can do anything I set my mind to, and I look forward to another chance to start anew and continue my growth as a person.”
For students who want to get more involved with activities on campus, Vaughn advised students to "say yes to everything and to make yourself accessible...put yourself in those positions for opportunities.”
Rickiya Coulton is a writer for The Setonian’s Features section. She can be reached at rickiya.coulton@student.shu.edu.
