Braxton CoombsBraxton Coombs’ campaign platform for the position of Student Association president stems from the idea that communication is key.
“My main thing this year, really, is to connect with the students – have a more direct relationship and figure out what’s on their minds,” said Coombs, the current SA attorney general. “I’m here to represent their interests and issues. It’s just time for the SA to do what it’s here to do.”
If elected, Coombs plans to create Student Life Commissions, a group of five students that will aim to target various student groups and the needs of the students that make up those groups.
“It’s going to be a way for students to research what students’ interests are,” he said. “We can have one of these for on-campus residents, minority students and Greek life. I want to figure out what these different groups’ interests are so we can better understand them.”
His platform includes plans for more frequent open forums for students to express their interests and concerns. Forums would be held in different campus departments in order to target specific groups. “I just don’t think the SA has been actually understanding what the students want,” said the junior business and economics major from New Albany.
Coombs also aims to enhance student involvement through a Student Involvement Board and increase student awareness in local, state and federal governmental affairs and elections.
“I really want to push for more voter registration, and right now is the time to do it,” he said.
Coombs has been involved with the SA since his freshman year. He has been involved with freshman forum and Lambda Sigma Honors Society. He is currently an MSU Roadrunner and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Coombs has been cabinet director of campus outreach, in which he gained some experience working with various diverse campus groups. He was also campus relations chairman, putting him in charge of informing fraternities of campus events.
Coombs said he is the best choice for SA president because he will sincerely listen to what the students have to say.
“I’ve figured out plans to make sure students are represented,” he said. “One thing I’m definitely going to do is carry through. No doubt about it.”
Jeral Self
If chosen today to be the new leader of the Student Association, Jeral Self said service to others is a top priority of hers.
“To be a true leader, you have to first serve people. Service is my all-time leadership philosophy, and I’ll always believe in that,” Self said. “Whatever I do, I do it wholeheartedly. I feel like I have creative ideas and a passionate drive to see Mississippi State be a better place.”
Self, who already has three years’ experience in the SA, including her current role as administrative liaison to SA President Jeremy Johnson, plans to apply her philosophy to help boost relations between students and administration through what she calls the “Student Steering Committee.”
“[The committee] would be composed of 10 to 15 students who would hold SA town hall forums where people can voice their issues. We would allow a group of students to take those issues to [MSU President Robert] ‘Doc’ Foglesong so the administration would know how the students feel,” Self said. “A lot of the time, they don’t know what we want or … we don’t speak up. Through the steering committee, I feel there would be no excuses. [Committee members] would meet monthly with ‘Doc,’ he would get a list of what the concerns of the students were and they could address them in an order of need.”
Self said she also wants to begin updating the Starkville Board of Aldermen about campus events and SA concerns on a tri-monthly or bi-monthly basis.
“I know they have a busy docket, but I think it would be nice if we had a student representative come at least every three months to keep them updated on what’s happening on campus.”
Self, who is a biomedical engineering major and a native of Madison, has prior leadership experience, including current roles as vice president of the Black Student Alliance and as a member of MSU Alumni Delegates. She is also a member of the Catholic Student Association and the Distinguished Scholars Program, as well as a past member of Freshman Forum.
Her current plans are to attend medical school after graduation.