Student Association (SA) elections took place Wednesday, April 6, and after a runoff on Friday, April 8, junior Noah Watson was elected as the new SA president. He will serve in this position during the 2016-17 school year and will work with newly elected executive officers and class representatives.
Q: Where is your hometown and one fun fact about you?
A: My hometown is Searcy, Arkansas. I am related to Sheryl Crow; I guess that’s interesting. She’s my second cousin.
Q: Why did you decide to come to Harding?
A: I grew up here in Searcy, and for the longest time I would say, “I’m going to Harding, I guess,” but then I would say, “No, I don’t want to go to Harding. That’s what everybody does — they go to Harding.” In my mind, and verbally, I was set on not going to Harding, but then I came to Honors Symposium, and that won me over.
Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?
A: In five years, I guess I would have just gotten out of law school, so I’d be practicing somewhere, probably. I will hopefully have settled down by then, employed.
Q: Who is your personal hero?
A: Other than Jesus and my namesake Noah (because those are too easy), I will have to say my parents. A lot of times people will say their grandparents, but both sets of my grandparents have been divorced, and my parents coming through that said they wouldn’t do that. They made that commitment to themselves, and I really look up to that. They’ve raised me like that and to be a Christian, and I appreciate that.
Q: Why did you decide to run for SA president?
A: I’ve kind of always been interested in the SA and I had thought that maybe I could do that, but I told myself to not worry about it. I had made up in my mind that I wasn’t going to run, but then a couple of my friends about a year ago said, “Hey Noah, you should run for president,” and I said, “I don’t know, maybe.” The first interest meeting came around, and at that point I still thought that I would enjoy it and do a good job, but didn’t worry about it because I’d have to stop doing a lot of stuff to be able to have time. One of my friends who was going to the interest meeting said, “No, come on, let’s go, it won’t hurt.” That first meeting peaked my interest, and then I went to the second one and then said, “You know what? This is something that I do want to do.”
Q: What’s your favorite quote?
A: A good one I always go back to is in “The Fellowship of the Ring” when they’re sitting in Moria. Frodo says, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Then Gandalf says, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with that time that is given to us.”
Q: Choose two celebrities to be your new parents.
A: Liam Neeson and Zooey Deschanel.
Q: What’s your Myers-Briggs personality type? What are some of your strengths and weaknesses that come along with that?
A: I am an ENTJ. My biggest problem is that I think that I’m always right. In my mind, I think that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, but I’ve gotten better because I know it’s something that I need to work on. I think at the same time, though, it can be a strength when used correctly. Since you have a mindset and a goal, you can push toward that.
Q: What is the first thing you would want to accomplish as the SA president?
A: I just thought of a lot of political jokes. “I will repeal all illegal executive actions!” I know there is communication already for the student body to get in contact with the SA, but I feel like it’s not as easily accessed as it could be.
Q: If you were to give an acceptance speech after winning the election, what would you say?
A: “I would like to thank the Academy.” Thankfulness would be the first thing. This is an opportunity that not a lot of people get to have. I would talk to the other executive members to figure out what we want to do and give an overview of what’s coming. It’s humbling to know that people do look up to me in a way.
