Mckinney Courier-gazette > News
Local friends lead UT student body
Submitted Photo -- University of Texas student body President Thor Lund, right, and Vice President Wills Brown show off their 'Hooke the Vote' shirts at the recent UT event, which encouraged community members to register to vote in county elections. Lund and Brown, who took office April 1, grew up together in McKinney.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
They speak for 50,000 plus. The student experience depends on it.
Two men, one voice...same hometown.
"We bring in that fresh perspective," said Thor Lund, student body president at the University of Texas. "And the things we work on will have a lasting effect on the future."
Lund and Vice President Wills Brown, a lifelong friend, took office April 1. After a four-week campaign from February to March, their peers had spoken.
They wanted a new voice, and heard that of the first-time candidates loud and clear. It was already steeped in tradition, formed a few hundred miles north.
Besides an affinity for student-life enhancement, the governing team shared lengthy roots.
Lund and Brown, who keep their UT posts for a year, met in third grade at Valley Creek Elementary School in McKinney. Lund went to Walker Elementary for two years, before linking back up with Brown at Faubion Middle School.
Brown finished high school in Richardson, but stayed friends with Lund, who graduated from McKinney High School in 2009. Their eventual perch atop the UT student body remained intact.
"When we were kids, we always talked about going to college together and being roommates," said Brown, who spent most of his time in McKinney even after moving away in eighth grade.
They didn't know they'd one day be political running mates. Lund is a mechanical engineering major, Brown a psychology major, and their governance desire sprouted last semester, three years into their Austin stay.
Choosing to run took courage. Deciding who would be what was easy.
"His name is Thor," Brown joked. "That's a pretty presidential name. It had to be him."
More than 5,000 students agreed. They pushed the ballot from five tickets to two by Election Day, with ample time to digest the duo's direction.
Lund and Brown spread their message across campus through posters, word of mouth and a campaign website. Their message: calls for 24-hour access to on-campus libraries, healthier food options and increased safety.
"We thought student government could do a better job of engaging the students," Lund said. "We pretty much just wanted to preserve the whole student experience."
Brown chairs the student services budget committee, which helps allocate about $42 million across campus every year. The students' next legislative session is this fall, when they'll help implement new or amended university policies.
Student government at UT consists of an executive, a legislative and a judicial branch, and co-exists in the same city as Texas state government. Once elected, Lund and Brown appointed representatives for each academic school at UT, and reached out to past student leaders for resources, advice and suggestions of helpful administrators.
They've already met with the library provost about expanding hours, and have reached agreements to get healthier sandwiches and salads onto campus menus.
"It's been the coolest three months of my life," Brown said.
They admit the governing workload -- often nine hours a day, Lund said -- can be hard to balance with classes, which ups the importance of coming summer months.
"It's pretty much a full-time, all-day deal," he said. "It's definitely more than I expected. You just have to prioritize."
For health and wellness, they plan to make the annual Longhorn Run bigger and better. They want to create a student tailgate area at football games, in hopes of "really getting the student body together as one," Brown said.
And though a four-hour drive away, their hometown roots follow them -- and others -- to this day.
"It's been awesome to meet people down here who are from McKinney," Lund said. "Seeing those connections and how they've spread out all over the university and all over the world has been really cool."
What's spreading to more than 50,000 students is a two-man voice, one that speaks of loud changes in a quiet amount of time.
It has but a year to leave an echo.
"We have an opportunity to have a lasting impact on students so they come back and say, 'I remember Thor and Wills did that for us, they made that happen and stayed true to what they said they would do,'" Lund said. "We can leave this university a little better than it was when we came here."
Two men, one voice...same hometown.
"We bring in that fresh perspective," said Thor Lund, student body president at the University of Texas. "And the things we work on will have a lasting effect on the future."
Lund and Vice President Wills Brown, a lifelong friend, took office April 1. After a four-week campaign from February to March, their peers had spoken.
They wanted a new voice, and heard that of the first-time candidates loud and clear. It was already steeped in tradition, formed a few hundred miles north.
Besides an affinity for student-life enhancement, the governing team shared lengthy roots.
Lund and Brown, who keep their UT posts for a year, met in third grade at Valley Creek Elementary School in McKinney. Lund went to Walker Elementary for two years, before linking back up with Brown at Faubion Middle School.
Brown finished high school in Richardson, but stayed friends with Lund, who graduated from McKinney High School in 2009. Their eventual perch atop the UT student body remained intact.
"When we were kids, we always talked about going to college together and being roommates," said Brown, who spent most of his time in McKinney even after moving away in eighth grade.
They didn't know they'd one day be political running mates. Lund is a mechanical engineering major, Brown a psychology major, and their governance desire sprouted last semester, three years into their Austin stay.
Choosing to run took courage. Deciding who would be what was easy.
"His name is Thor," Brown joked. "That's a pretty presidential name. It had to be him."
More than 5,000 students agreed. They pushed the ballot from five tickets to two by Election Day, with ample time to digest the duo's direction.
Lund and Brown spread their message across campus through posters, word of mouth and a campaign website. Their message: calls for 24-hour access to on-campus libraries, healthier food options and increased safety.
"We thought student government could do a better job of engaging the students," Lund said. "We pretty much just wanted to preserve the whole student experience."
Brown chairs the student services budget committee, which helps allocate about $42 million across campus every year. The students' next legislative session is this fall, when they'll help implement new or amended university policies.
Student government at UT consists of an executive, a legislative and a judicial branch, and co-exists in the same city as Texas state government. Once elected, Lund and Brown appointed representatives for each academic school at UT, and reached out to past student leaders for resources, advice and suggestions of helpful administrators.
They've already met with the library provost about expanding hours, and have reached agreements to get healthier sandwiches and salads onto campus menus.
"It's been the coolest three months of my life," Brown said.
They admit the governing workload -- often nine hours a day, Lund said -- can be hard to balance with classes, which ups the importance of coming summer months.
"It's pretty much a full-time, all-day deal," he said. "It's definitely more than I expected. You just have to prioritize."
For health and wellness, they plan to make the annual Longhorn Run bigger and better. They want to create a student tailgate area at football games, in hopes of "really getting the student body together as one," Brown said.
And though a four-hour drive away, their hometown roots follow them -- and others -- to this day.
"It's been awesome to meet people down here who are from McKinney," Lund said. "Seeing those connections and how they've spread out all over the university and all over the world has been really cool."
What's spreading to more than 50,000 students is a two-man voice, one that speaks of loud changes in a quiet amount of time.
It has but a year to leave an echo.
"We have an opportunity to have a lasting impact on students so they come back and say, 'I remember Thor and Wills did that for us, they made that happen and stayed true to what they said they would do,'" Lund said. "We can leave this university a little better than it was when we came here."
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