Student leaders at UND literally number in the hundreds. Dimensions talked to three of them who had especially high profiles in the school year just ended.

Kayla Effertz

State Board of Higher Education student representative and UND senior Kayla Effertz sees the forest — and the trees — as she experiences higher education from both the administrative and student sides.

“Being a student board member is an amazing experience,” said Effertz, a Velva native who is double-majoring in marketing and communication. “I was fortunate to be there during the legislative session and see the entire process come to life.”

Effertz said it is a challenge to represent students in all 11 institutions of higher education in the state. “The colleges and universities have different missions, cultures, and programs,” she said, “and I need to look at what’s best for the entire North Dakota University System.” She said she quickly became a fan of North Dakota’s new approach to coordinating higher education, known as the Roundtable, which allows institutions flexibility with accountability. “Campuses can do what’s best for them,” she said.

One of the opportunities she had as a board member was to travel to New Orleans for a community college conference. “It helped me understand the community college culture and the differences between the missions of a community college and a research institution,” she said. She also appreciates the orientation she received from board members. “They’ve taken me under their wing, and they treat me like an equal.”

Effertz said that preparing for the monthly board meetings takes a lot of time. She spends three to four days before each meeting poring over proposals, background information, reports and agendas.

“You have to know what’s going on because it moves fast,” she said. And, she added, preparation time can cut into her class time. So far, she’s managed to balance the two, along with her job as marketing manager of the Memorial Union.

Effertz hopes to remain in North Dakota or the Midwest, and work in economic development, public relations, or marketing. She grew up on a ranch, and enjoys going home to help her family work with and show cattle.

Jordan Schuetzle

Outgoing Student Body President Jordan Schuetzle of Bismarck figures it might be a couple of decades before he again has a leadership position with this much responsibility. “Being student body president really is the equivalent of a high-end CEO position,” he said. The 60-hour weeks, innumerable meetings, and personal sacrifice paid off, though, with incredible rewards. “I got so much out of it,” he said. “Administrative leadership experience, knowledge of state politics, workplace politics — it’s a real job.”

Schuetzle believes his term as president has made a difference for students, especially in parking (a common student complaint) and communication.

“We’ve implemented parking reforms, tickets are down, there are fewer infractions, lower fines, the time has been extended to pay for parking permits, and we’ve revamped the appeal system,” he said, adding there’s still more to do. In the communication area, his administration developed UNDerground, a free online bulletin board similar to eBay. Students can use it to exchange rides, find roommates, and buy and sell items. Administered by Student Government and written by student programmers, the Web site, www.underground.und.edu, has quickly become popular.

Schuetzle describes the job of student body president as one that influences University policy and programs. “I like to sit down and talk to students about their problems and see if I can make a difference,” he said.

One of the biggest responsibilities, he said, is facilitating communication between the admininistration and students. The administration’s job, he said, is to take a long-term view of issues, while students necessarily have a shorter time frame. As student body president, he’s found that it takes a lot of time to fully understand how policies and administrative decisions affect students.

A political science major, Schuetzle will be attending the UND School of Law this fall. His future may involve working in business or real estate development, and eventually re-entering the public sector.
Over the short term, he is most looking forward to just one thing: not wearing a suit to class.

Kendra Wobbema

Can you earn a university degree in only three years and be active on campus? Kendra Wobbema is proving it. The UND junior says it just requires one big sacrifice: sleep.

Wobbema, who has Harwood and Fargo roots but attended high school in Maryland and Virginia, is majoring in international studies with a minor in political science and a concentration in education and literacy in Africa.

“I thrive on being busy,” she said. A 2003 charter member of UND’s Emerging Leaders program, which uses mentors to encourage leadership development in freshmen, Wobbema is active in Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Panhellenic Council, and Campus Crusade for Christ. She also works at UND’s Energy and Environmental Research Center as a research assistant in the coal ash group.

Wobbema highly recommends sorority life. “It made UND seem smaller to me,” she said. “I was able to get to know 70 women instead of 13,000 students.”

Sorority life, she said, emphasizes scholarship, involvement, and networking. Within her sorority, she’s served as chair of its music and awards committees. Last year, she was named to represent Kappa Alpha Theta on Panhellenic Council, the governing organization for UND sororities. There she has been involved in projects related to new member education, event programming, and risk management.

Just recently Wobbema was named co-chair of a University task force on excellence in Greek life. It will take a closer look at the challenges facing fraternities and sororities, ensuring that the Greek system remains the vital force at UND that it has been for more than a century.

Wobbema will graduate next year, and plans to work overseas doing international relief work. She’s already spent time in Guatemala, Russia, and Chad. This summer, she will have a second internship experience in Los Angeles, working in church leadership and service. She enjoys music, especially singing and playing piano.