Student Association president Will Waldron is a junior physics and math major living a college career brimming with experiences, opportunities and aspirations. Waldron was elected SA president in spring of 2012 and serves as the first junior in Harding history to hold the position.
Juggling a workload of classes and government duties, Waldron accredits his success to his fellow SA representatives. Senior Hector Felix serves as vice president, senior Mattie Parten as secretary and junior Lily Armstrong as treasurer. Other SA team members include senior representatives Jay Hemphill and Sarabeth Ivey, junior representatives Josh Moran and Kelli Mott and sophomore representatives Andrew Mauldin and Kasey Wilson.
Waldron’s passion for student government began in high school, and he gained a love for politics through his grandfather.
“I tell people it runs in my blood,” Waldron said. “I like interacting with people and this is just the best way that I found to do it.”
Waldron’s fervor for SA is also seen by those working closest to him. “He really cares about Harding and the student body,” junior women’s representative Kelli Mott said. “He’s seeking to serve in the best way that he can.”
Conflicting with his passion for politics, however, Waldron’s major requires different disciplines that have brought him to pursue his dreams and strengthen his faith. He has aspired to explore space from a very young age.
“I was that little funny kid at kindergarten graduation that wanted to be an astronaut,” Waldron said. “In some ways now I’m still that same 5-year-old, who’s just gotten a little older and is pursuing the same dream.”
Waldron humbly considers himself a nerd and wants to be viewed for who he truly is.
“I really want people to know me, not just SA president, but a student just like anybody else,” Waldron said.
He explained that his outgoing personality that led him to his current position was a long cultivated progression. Through the encouragement of his friends and family, Waldron made the “long shift from nerdy introversion to nerdy extroversion.”
His academic demands played an essential role from the first semester Waldron attended Harding. With a desire to travel overseas, Waldron quickly decided to spend his spring semester of freshman year in Chile through Harding University in Latin America. Waldron’s adventures in South America created a perspective in which he views the work of each student at Harding as meaningful. Waldron said that he believes beauty must be seen in various studies.
“Whatever field you’re in, whether its math, physics, writing, that beauty must be attributed,” Waldron said. “Because it’s something pure to God.”
Because of his experiences and relationships at Harding, the SA theme “Connections” was chosen for the 2012-2013 school year. Waldron announced the theme in chapel and revealed its logo on Aug. 23.
“We want to strengthen the relationships at Harding,” Waldron said. “I want people to have the Harding experience I have felt so far and the relationships that I’ve formed with the students, faculty and people from Searcy… this is our way to work with the mission of Harding and make those relationships even stronger.”
Mott said that her viewpoint on connections is to “remember that we’re first and foremost connected in and through Christ,” as well as other Christians, our community and the globe.
