Kelly elected as ABSA president
Priscilla Ybarra
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
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All eyes were on him; everyone with a pen in hand ready to start judging. He started to speak and his voice resonated throughout the entire room strong and insightful.
As captain of the Henderson State debate team, sophomore public administration major, Kelly is used to being in the public eye. But debate isn't his only forte. Along with being a senator of Student Government Associate and president of Henderson's Black Students Association, Kelly decided he was ready to take on a new challenge. On Saturday, Feb. 24 Kelly was elected president of the Arkansas Black Students Association. "I essentially believe ABSA is supposed to take several organizations, link them together in a networking circle, and make one huge organization," Kelly said. "If all of our BSAs in the state are working together for a common purpose, we can achieve great things."
He spoke with great enthusiasm as he sat in the familiar debate room. He admitted to being surprised by the large amount of responsibility that had been past to him, but remained unintimidated. Since Kelly doesn't officially take office until April, the previous president is teaching him all that he needs to know before he takes charge.
"In the past years BSA has fought to find respect," sophomore accounting major and first vice president of BSA Erin Finney said. "[Since Ivey], we have been successful. He will take the things he's done at Henderson to state."
The Black Students Association as a local organization remains involved in the community by reading to children, encouraging voter registration, and trying to inspire their peers to stay active in their school.
"One thing I really wanna see at Henderson is that our students will get fired up about something, I don't care what it is," Kelly said. "I wanna see new faces in all of our organizations, I wanna see debates, I wanna see people run against each other, posters and flyers and I want people to get passionate."
While Kelly yearns to see passion in his fellow students, those closest seem to see it, in him.
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