Signal Mountain native and Tennessee Tech SGA President Kelsey Hewitt
Tennessee Tech University junior Kelsey Hewitt officially launched her successful bid for Student Government Association president in March but, in some ways, the campaign began in earnest in the eighth grade.
It was then, as a student at Signal Mountain Middle High School, that Ms. Hewitt first entered student government. She continued to serve in elected roles throughout high school, drawn to the opportunity to advocate for her peers, build relationships with teachers and use the coveted P.A.
system for morning announcements.
When Ms. Hewitt came to Tech in the fall of 2022 to pursue her goal of becoming a teacher, she immediately began looking for ways to continue championing her fellow students.
“SGA was one of the first things I decided to seek out when I got to Week of Welcome,” recalled Ms. Hewitt. “I didn’t have anyone I knew going to Tech, so it was my first attempt at finding a community where I felt like my voice mattered.”
Ms. Hewitt quickly found her way into the inaugural class of First-Year Assembly, an SGA initiative to teach interested freshmen how Tech runs its student government. Freshman senators are selected from this pool of students and Ms. Hewitt was among the group of five elected to a position. Last year, she expanded her duties by serving in SGA’s executive cabinet.
When Ms. Hewitt’s race for student body president was officially called in her favor earlier this year, she says it was a “full circle” experience.
“When those numbers came in and it was all finalized, it was very meaningful to see. It put me in a reflective state,” said Ms. Hewitt. “I think that it was even more full circle and important to me because I’ve now had the opportunity to be both my high school’s student body president and my college’s student body president. My number one word for it is ‘rewarding’ – and very special.”
As Ms. Hewitt looks to the year ahead, she plans to hit the ground running with an ambitious platform.
“With this being an election year, I want to focus on voter registration and civic engagement,” Ms. Hewitt said. “We’ll be completely unbiased, but we do hope to share the importance of voting and how that impacts your community, state and country.”
Ms. Hewitt also has plans to reenergize SGA itself, including bringing greater visibility to the First-Year Assembly program and launching an initiative that she calls P.U.R.P.O.S.E., which will focus on providing a more fulfilling leadership experience for SGA officers. Hewitt added that the full meaning behind the acronym will be unveiled later in the fall.
“I want SGA to have the first hand in that!” she said.
Additionally, Ms. Hewitt hopes to use her office to promote sustainability on campus, act on SGA’s motto of “mental health matters,” and serve as a touchpoint with key offices on campus, such as Intercultural Affairs and the Accessible Education Center.
Outside of her SGA duties, Ms. Hewitt continues to serve as a Tech Trailblazer, which are student leaders who give personalized campus tours throughout the year to prospective students and their families. In this role, she helps future Golden Eagles see the very qualities that drew her to Tech in the first place.
“Tech is special because of this great community we have around us,” said Ms. Hewitt. “I think that’s harder to find in big-city college towns. Cookeville truly revolves around Tennessee Tech, and that goes so far in making a student feel supported on campus.”
As a double major in French and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), Ms. Hewitt will have plenty to keep her busy in the classroom, too.
“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve said I would be a teacher. I just didn’t always know ESL was a route I could take,” she said.
Ms. Hewitt, who has taken French classes since the sixth grade, hopes to live abroad and teach English in a French-speaking country after graduating from Tech. She says the motivation to become a teacher and to serve on SGA both come from the same source.
“I hope to use my language skills and resources to help students in any way I can,” she concluded. “It goes back to the same fuel I had to be SGA president. I want to help those students who don’t have as strong of a voice to fight for themselves.”
Learn more about student government at Tennessee Tech by visiting www.tntech.edu/sga.