GSA president steps down
The Wilfrid Laurier University Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) are currently accepting nomination packages for the position of president and CEO as Benjamin Hesch announced his resignation from the position on Sept. 24. He will be staying on, however, until November 1 to allow enough time to elect a new president.
“I decided to step down from the position after a number of weeks of deliberating because I received a full-time permanent job offer in a different locale than here,” Hesch explained. “It was too far that I wouldn’t even be able to do both at the same time.”
He explained that it was his hope to have been able to find a job that would have accommodated his position at the GSA; unfortunately this wasn’t the case.
When asked what job he had accepted, Hesch responded, “It’s a job with the government. And at this point the rest of the details haven’t been finalized so I won’t comment on that.”
But Hesch did say that it was a long-term career opportunity, which is one of the reasons he chose it over the year-long term as president of the GSA.
Another aspect of the decision, he said, came down to how his resignation would affect the GSA.
“I’ve got a great team working with me this year who know the ins and outs of the GSA very well by now,” he said. “They are very comfortable working with each other and with the staff that we have there. They’ve shown a lot of integrity, compassion, and commitment to the role and a lot of dedication to graduate students.”
Hesch went on to explain that his confidence in his team made the decision easier to make.
“I’ve had a lot of fun working with the executive team and staff that are here,” he continued. “Just like any student government there’s a lot of challenges that we face together, working to advocate on behalf of graduate students.”
They are hoping that the projects they have taken on will be carried through the next president.
According to Hesch, WLU isn’t completely out the picture for his future Since he already has his Masters in Social Work, his “plan is to go work for a little bit and then hopefully within the next five to ten years come back and do a PhD in Social Work.”
In the meantime, the election process for the new president is already underway. At this time Hesch will aid the president-elect in their transition to the new position.
