By Jazmine Montoya

Reporter   

As the spring semester comes to an end, we welcome incoming SGA president Travis Tillis. Winning by 228 votes in the elections that recently took place a couple weeks ago, Tillis has accepted his duties as the new president, and he will be begin his duties during the summer of 2013.

Tillis said he was happily surprised when he was told he had won.

“I was ecstatic. I was so happy,” Tillis said. “I have a deep faith in God, so I knew if it was his will it would be done.”

Tillis said his strong leadership skills and creative mindset are just a few qualifications that make him ready to represent BC as SGA president along with the fact that he enjoys organizing. He says he wants to help make the student-teacher relationship stronger and to make an impact while serving his term.

After attending Dallas County Community District in Dallas, Texas, Tillis transferred to BC as an industrial arts major.

He said that he immediately loved BC because it pushed him and that he prefers the education system here in California as opposed to in Texas.

“The education system here is above the system back there,” he said.

Tillis has had his share of struggles not only in school but also in other aspects of life. His strife has taught him so much, he said, motivating him to help give back.

“I’m a guy who has experienced a lot of hardships in life. I grew up very poor and experienced some things a young man shouldn’t experience,” he said. “My main thing is to try to give back to the community and mentor the young men who are coming up so they won’t make the same mistakes I’ve made.

“Not only young men but the young women because the young women dictate how the young men move…whatever they like is what the men are gonna like.”

This is Tillis’s third semester at BC. He began attending school here in the spring of 2012 after moving from his hometown in New Orleans to Texas then finally here to Bakersfield.

He started going to college at the age of 17 and is now 33 years old. Despite what others may think, Tillis said that he is proud of what he has accomplished and is not planning on prolonging his success anytime soon.

“I feel good. I feel young. This is the best time of my life actually,” he said.

He also lamented on the challenges of being a student.

“You will be tested but you have to stick with it and graduate. It’s all about completion,” he said. “It’s not where you started. It’s where you finish.”

One thing Tillis is big on is being alert and doing things to help out the community. Although he is studying to become a civil engineer, he aspires to be a public speaker or preacher for his future career, following the ways of one of his role models Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some of his other role models include Bill Clinton, Tony Robbins, Ellen G. White and T.D Jakes.

In spite of this being Tillis’ first time serving as SGA president, the leadership position is not all new to him as this semester he has been serving as president of the African American Student Union. He is also active in the math club.

While in office, he plans on working with his team members and finding out what effective methods can be useful to help students excel and increase the retention rate. He also plans on continuing the new and old programs that SGA has implemented at BC that were effective for students. Tillis says he is looking forward to what the future year has in store.