Cooper’s Empowering Act
By Joe Brown ’14 Editor-in-Chief of The Springfield Student
iT wAs noT ThE BEsT of TurnouTs, and Student Government President Becca Jacobson knew it. On Nov. 12, a small handful of students milled about Naismith
Green at noon awaiting the start of a tug-of-war contest held as part of the Cooper Cup during President Mary-Beth Cooper’s inauguration week. Jacobson and the rest of the Inauguration Coordinating Committee had carefully chosen events to get the campus excited about the historic ceremony, but it appeared that this particular event would fall short of reaching its goal. That’s when the first-year president stepped in. Cooper arrived at
the event and surveyed the less-than-ideal amount of participants. Without a moment’s hesitation, she looked Jacobson in the eye and took immediate action. It was certainly a sight to see. The president (who works out
regularly at the Wellness Center) took off in a sprint with Jacobson right at her side. They proceeded to enter Cheney Hall, rounded up a sizable group of students, and returned to begin the event. With a single act, Cooper had not only rejuvenated the event, but made an impact on Jacobson. “She didn’t just go in herself. She took me by the hand and said,
‘We’re doing this together,’” Jacobson said. “She is empowering in every sense of the word.” Cooper may be in the midst of her first year at Springfield College,
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but her student-oriented approach has already made an impact on the College’s residents. She comes from a student affairs background, and made it clear right from the start that the students of Springfield College were her No. 1 priority. Jacobson had a feeling just by reading Cooper’s biography that the
College’s first-ever female president was the perfect choice for where the College is heading. Jacobson was studying abroad in a Semester at Sea program this
past summer when she first heard the news that Cooper had been chosen as Springfield College’s next president. Seeing as her position as SGA president requires her to work with the College’s president at times, Jacobson decided to look up some background information on the College’s new leader. She was not disappointed. “Her personality and her passion for students leapt off of every-
thing that I read,” Jacobson said. “She is someone who is here for students.” Jacobson’s positive suspicions were confirmed when she met
Cooper for the first time at a dinner for New Student Orientation leaders and residence life staff members that Cooper hosted at the President’s Residence, her new home on the campus. “I walked up to her, and I [said], ‘Hi, I’m Becca. I’m president of the
student government,’ and her eyes just lit up and she was like, ‘My goodness, you’re someone I’m going to get to work with!’”
TRIANGLE TRIANGLE 3 Vol .Vol. 85 85,
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