When his name was called, his face lit up, and he took his position in the center of the room to listen as the newly elected senator names were called. He continued to beam from ear to ear — even though he was the only presidential candidate on the ballot.
Exuding charm and enthusiasm, ASUI President Elect Nate Fisher already has high hopes for his upcoming term at the head of ASUI.
“Honestly, I want to be a communicator,” Fisher said. “I know that it’s in my job description currently to communicate between students, faculty and administration. But I intend to be an access point for anybody in the student body to be as helpful as I can as a communicator and leader.”
Fisher, a political science and agricultural economics student, comes to the position after two terms as an ASUI senator. He said he knew being president was something he wanted to get involved in after seeing the work of current ASUI President Max Cowan and past ASUI President Hannah Davis. Fisher said when he caught wind last year that Vice President Elect Sarah Vetsmany, the current ASUI Recreation Board Chair, was considering running for president as well, he sought her out.
“I approached her in October,” Fisher said. “She’d played with the idea of running for the presidency, but she’ll be working in Washington D.C. with the Small Business Committee for the U.S. Senate — so she wouldn’t be able to live in Moscow. That was kind of the big determining factor.”
Both Vetsmany, an international studies major, and Fisher see policymaking in some capacity in their futures — a dream that Fisher said can be attributed to his parents.
“I’ve always been interested in political science,” Fisher said. “My dad has worked in and around local government his entire career, so I kind of caught the bug from him. I really fell in love with it in high school, but wasn’t sure in what capacity I wanted to study it. The suggestion to switch to agricultural economics actually came from my mom this last year. I don’t come from an agricultural background, but if I’m going to be working in the state of Idaho or the Northwest, I want to be doing it with that basis of knowledge.”
It was the pursuit of this dream that led Fisher to the University of Idaho and to ASUI Senate. Fisher has put his time here to good use, not only as a senator, but as the chapter secretary for the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, serving on Interfraternity Council and playing the viola in the UI Symphony Orchestra.
For now, he said, Fisher really wants to focus on getting the most out of his experience in the ASUI presidency and whatever the position throws at him.
“Certainly, (Vetsmany and I) are going to stick to the platform we campaigned on, but you never know what’s going to come or be thrown at you,” Fisher said. “I don’t believe that (Current ASUI President Max Cowan) could have ever expected the guns on-campus policy, the Student Code of Conduct issues, or the smoking ban faculty senate will be presenting … I’m very excited for next year, though. I’ve built a good reputation and standing in ASUI Senate, been involved in some really good projects and I’m happy to represent students, and willing to help all of them with any issue or problem.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]