The Daily Gamecock: What experience makes you qualified for this office?
Michael Parks: Compared to some of the other candidates in the field, I haven’t had as much exposure to Student Government here at Carolina — and I think that is an advantage of mine, because I think Student Government is very ineffective and doesn’t reach many students right now. Student Government needs a rebranding in a sense, in that more leaders from around campus need to be at the Student Government roundtable discussions ... I feel like I'm very well-equipped to bring new people into Student Government who have never done it before but are still leaders and bring a lot to the table.
TDG: If you could accomplish one thing during your term, what would that be?
MP: Something called Carolina Kickoff. That’s a big part of my platform. What it is, is basically a concert festival here on campus ... We would bring in a couple (big-name) artists, a couple local artists, and have a big event either on the Strom fields or the Greene Street fields, and then we would end the night with a pep rally. This would all take place the Friday night before the first home football game of the year. A lot of other SEC schools do programs like this to kick off the football season, kick off the entire school year — and it also would be incredibly instrumental in rebranding Student Government.
TDG: What inspired you to run for this job?
MP: It started as a dream several months ago, and I found myself just continually thinking about it and it popping up in my head again and again ... I was like, “God, if you want me to do this, if you’re trying to tell me something, just keep bringing this up in my head.” ... So, through a lot of prayer, a lot of reflection, a lot of talking to my family and friends — that’s kind of what really inspired me, as well as just the fact that I want to leave USC better than I found it ... I feel like there are so many students at USC who, quite frankly, don’t get involved with [clubs and organizations] with the university ... We have so many leaders on our campus, and very few are even involved with Student Government, and so what this is about is expanding the scope of Student Government and rebranding the image of Student Government for our student body.
TDG: What food do you think embodies your personality, and why?
MP: I’m a meat and potatoes type of guy, so a rib-eye steak and a twice-baked potato — something like that. You can eat it any time of the week, and it’s pretty hard to mess up, and it gets along with everyone.
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