And now for a word from the President...

Kylie Patterson is the President of Temple Student Government, and amidst budget crises and housing issues, will have plenty to deal with this year. We recently did a little online interview with President Patterson,, and now present it to you as our first student interview of the year. Also, blogspot sucks and doesn't have a caption thing for photos, but the second photo used here came from the Temple News and was taken by Nic Lukehart.

C&W: So what did Madam President do over the summer?

As part of my scholarship, I traveled to Liberty, MO to walk in the shoes of the scholarship’s namesake, Harry S Truman. After returning home, I had a weeks break to relax and spend with family. I then went to Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and stayed there for seven weeks. While I was there, I studied public policy, statistics and economics. After completing my studies there, I started couch surfing with close friends and prepping for this year.

C&W: And what has TSG been doing over the summer?

Temple Student Government has been super busy over the summer. The state budget appropriation was the primary focus all summer. Both Vice Presidents Jonathan DeSantis and Anthony Leyro took the lead. Together, they traveled to Harrisburg and hand delivered letters to almost every state senator and representative. They also organized a drive to gain over a 1,000 signatures. When Representative Taylor made his threats public, once again TSG was on the ground asking students to sign petitions, email and call their representatives. It proved to be very successful.

C&W: How did your first day on campus as student body President feel? Are your body guards nice?

My first day as President felt like any other day, but as a senior I felt especially old. I’m sure most seniors can sympathize with me on that. As far as my body guards they are especially mean. No joke.

C&W: Let's say I'm an average student... which I'm not, I'm below average... but I don't know anything about TSG. I'm pretty skeptical that TSG actually does anything that benefits me. What can you say that makes me a believer?

I would say this to the skeptic student, TSG is only what you allow TSG to be. I can tell you about all of the wonderful things we have accomplished, the goals for the future and the history of the organization. But at the end of the day, if you can not claim some ownership of TSG it will all be worth nothing. That was a long way of saying, TSG is for all students; the entire senate and executive body are servants to the student body.

C&W: What are you most excited about this year, TSG initiative or otherwise?

In TSG, I am most excited about the Mural-On Campus initiative. Right now, the class is slated to launch in the spring, but there is a lot of administrative tape to get through. Beyond that, I am also really excited about the legal services project coming to fruition and the inaugural year of the Caucus of Philadelphia Student Governments. In addition, we are attempting to get more students involved on campus

C&W: When are you throwing a party at the presidential palace?

I can’t throw a party at my palace ( I live in the Edge- Nuff Said.) But I am planning with MCPB to hopefully host a Gala of some kind in the spring semester.

C&W: Anything else you'd like to say to your fellow owls?

“Go Owls! Access to Excellence is more than a motto, it’s a way of life” :-)