I’m sure that every student has experienced hearing the name of someone else on campus, only knowing their name but not knowing who they really are. You only know the name that comes up because that person is probably very involved in multiple things, knows a lot of people and is also probably pretty cool. When the names were announced for this year’s winners of Mr. and Miss Union, I recognized the names Campbell Sutton and Rachael Volk, and though I had never spoken to them before, I knew that they won for a good reason. Soon enough, I got my chance to finally get to know them on a more personal level.
Sutton is a senior athletics training major and is very involved on campus, serving as SGA Senior Class president, a Welcome Week leader and a New Student Orientation leader, but he never considered himself a contender for the title of Mr. Union. When I asked him how it felt to be chosen as a representative of Union, Sutton gave a simple reply:
“I don’t think of myself as a great representative or just a representative of the school at all,” Sutton said. “I think of it more that I’ve been blessed over my three years to have the opportunity to represent my school, starting with working in SGA and getting to represent my class in front of the students in it and then working New Student Orientation and Welcome Week.”
For senior elementary education major Rachael Volk, the honor of winning Miss Union was unexpected since her involvement on campus has dipped this last year at Union due to her teaching internship.
“The biggest thing for me is that it was humbling,” Volk said. “Because I just already love Union, and I will always love Union, and I will always advocate for Union. But then to also now be a representative, I just feel really blessed.”
Winning the title of Mr. and Miss Union is quite an honor and achievement, but it is also a thorough and lengthy process. Candidates are nominated by organizations that are a part of student Senate and from there, the SLE office trims down the list based on certain requirements like GPA and discipline. Senate then receives a list of 15 men and 15 women from which Senate votes. Chosen candidates are then interviewed by a faculty panel, and those who made the cut are finally voted on by the student body.
Volk reflected on her leadership roles as current SAC president, a former Welcome Week, New Student Orientation leader and a former student admissions ambassador. It was through these roles and through mentor relationships in the student version of Leadership Union that Volk learned valuable things about leadership, Christianity and her own personal faith, which were things she thinks helped culminate in her recent achievement.
“I think learning how to lead alongside people was something that I had to learn and something that was really, really formative in just starting to become who I am,” Volk said.
I had to get an understanding of Sutton and Volk’s passion for what they do, so I asked the cliché question: Why do you love Union? Surprisingly but fittingly, their answers were the same: the people.
“It’s probably been the biggest catalyst of growth for me, both in my personal and spiritual life,” Sutton said. “I was a completely different person three and a half years ago when I came in as a freshman. I didn’t like talking to people. I was very introverted and stuff. And just from being here and getting involved and taking different leadership roles, I’ve been able to just kind of grow and try to improve in areas of weakness.”
Volk, too, was struck by the effect of Union’s community, and it has become something she values dearly.
“It’s the opportunities you have paired with the support that you’re given, especially if you invest deeply,” Volk said. “What you get out of college is what you put in, and I just think investing deeply alongside other people who invest deeply, that’s what’s shaped my experience.”
Volk was inspired by other people’s intentionality in building relationships with her, whether it was friends, faculty or mentors. She described how her Welcome Week leader, when she was a freshman, was someone who was intentional with her, the one who encouraged her to try out admissions and was someone Volk grew to look up to. Having a role model who invested in her is how Volk also wants to be remembered.
“I would like to be known as someone who wanted to know people and my goal was to like make people feel seen,” Volk said. “Because I want to get to know people and that was the whole point of college—just these relationships that were life-changing. And so I think I would like to leave a legacy of being people-focused,”
What kind of legacy he wanted to leave behind at Union was something that Sutton had to ponder when he was asked that very same question in his panel interview. For him, Sutton wants people to have good memories of interactions he had with people, whether it be playing Spikeball in the quad, having meaningful conversations or simply holding the door.
“There’s a quote, I have no idea who said it, but it’s, ‘People don’t remember what you said to them, they remember how you made them feel,’” Sutton said. “And so that’s kind of how I just try to live. I hope people will just remember me as someone who tried to make them feel included and welcomed and cared for.”
