J.T. Sayre, PGSA First Year Rep. 2007-2008

Coming into my first year in the department, I had no idea what the PGSA was, why it existed, or what it does. But that was just one of many things I didn’t understand about grad school, so when they asked for a first-year student to sit on the PGSA, I figured it would be a good first step towards getting things figured out. As first-years, the scope of our concerns is generally limited to Kowalski problem sets and grading lab reports, so being party to the PGSA’s broader agenda helped give some idea of what to expect in the coming years, along with an inside track on how problems were being addressed. And just because we didn’t have much experience in the department didn’t mean we didn’t have a lot to say about what we were going through. The PGSA was the most direct channel for all of our concerns, allowing us a chance to air our grievances in a more formal and productive manner than just bitching in Rock 106.

As the first-year rep, I felt that my job was basically to distill the volumes of discussion about grad school life that took place among my classmates. If anyone asked what we thought about something, I should have a pretty good idea what the consensus was. Otherwise, I kept my classmates updated with opportunities to be involved with various activities around the department, so they could get involved as well.