Jordan LaBord, Candidate for Vice President of SciTech Campus
Graduate Degree Program: Master’s student, Strategic Communication, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (full-time student)
Expected Date of Graduation: May 2024
The campus of Academic Department: Fairfax
Campus(es) of Classes, Work, and/or Residence: Fairfax & Science and Technology
Biography and Candidate Statement
My name is Jordan LaBord, but feel free to just call me Jay. I am a Virginia native from the 757, Chesapeake, Virginia. I am a first-generation college student who graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s in Public Relations and minor in International Studies. Currently, I am pursuing my M.A. in Strategic Communications with an expected graduation date of May 2024. I would be elated to see the SciTech campus transform into an environment where students can attend class in comfortable settings, seek out opportunities for professional development, find niche study spaces to work, and have a voice for the students readily attending the SciTech campus. To make this a reality, I have initiative ideas I would like to focus some of my attention on while serving as Vice President of the SciTech campus such as making the SciTech campus more accommodating to student’s needs, working to build a sense of community amongst the graduate students at the campus, and improving the representation of the SciTech campus despite being a smaller GMU campus. I feel as if I am qualified for Vice President of the SciTech campus because of my previous leadership experience throughout my undergraduate years, my current position as Graduate Professional Assistant for Student Government & Student Funding Board and being a tenant of Beacon Hall. During undergrad, I served on the executive councils of over six different organizations, and I served as president for two of them. My experiences, especially as president, molded me into being able to understand the nuances of running an organization and representing something greater than yourself. The skills I learned include accountability, accepting responsibility, delegating tasks, effective team cooperation, and professionalism. I also had the privilege of representing Virginia Tech at an ACC Student Leadership Symposium. In my current position, I serve as the Graduate Professional Assistant for Student Government and Student Funding Board. Working alongside Student Government has illustrated how students can utilize university offices and resources to help other students. Seeing and helping to be a part of it is what inspired me to use my voice as a graduate student to advocate for other graduate students like me. As a resident of Beacon Hall, outside of work and class, I am always on the SciTech campus. Being able to navigate the campus and being readily available is important, and I feel living at Beacon Hall is advantageous to the position. Overall, I am a passionate and dedicated person, and I would like to focus that as my intrinsic motivation and driving force if I were to be elected as Vice President of the SciTech campus. I seek to help improve the experience of graduate students who frequent the SciTech campus and create an environment that aids graduate students in their professional and academic endeavors.
Availability and Commitment to the Time and Expectations of the Position
Yes, I could definitely meet you in person. I arrange well with my work on campus, so I don’t think my academic work will make conflicts to GAPSA