Andrew Lara '16 Experiences Being President of the College for a Day

Andrew Lara '16 was selected to be Whittier College 2016 President of the Day among a talented pool of student applicants. Lara, leads the Asian Student Association and is pursuing undergraduate studies in international business and Chinese.

During his day as president, Lara met with senior administrators such as Vice President of Enrollment Fred Pfursich and Vice President of Student Life Joel Pérez to discuss topics such as Cal Grants and student life. 

On the same day, President Sharon Herzberger became student Herzberger and had Lara's schedule for the day. Among her activities, she attended kinesiology and business finance classes, worked as an intern for the Drinking Privileges Program, and gave an interview to the QCTV about her experience.

Lara tells us more about his day in his own words.

What were your expectations coming into your President for the Day experience? 

As I was starting my day as president for Whittier College I expected to be limited to the things that the president would normally do. To my surprise, the meetings and events that I participated in were real college president roles, from speaking with the Chair of the Board of Trustees to giving congratulations at the psychology honorary induction ceremony. I was definitely happy to be able to provide a bigger contribution to the College as president in one day than I had originally thought.

As a student leader, what did you learn about College leadership that you will apply in your campus leadership roles?

I learned that it is important to attempt to meet with as many organizations and individuals from a variety of departments on campus in order to maintain positive relationships and communication. As a student with a lot of leadership roles such as President of the Asian Student Association, Chair of the Peer Review Board, Freshman Residential Advisor, and the Drinking Privileges Program Intern I will definitely include being as interactive with all its participants in my daily roles as I was being president.

What did you enjoy the most about being President for the Day?

I really enjoyed being able to learn to share my thoughts about campus concerns from both a student and administrator viewpoint. The other things I thought was fun was getting behind the scenes access such as touring the new science building project and getting an update on how everything is going so far. I got to end the day with a dinner at the California Grill with my uncle and the president where I learned more about what they do.