Liu Vakapuna has a name people wouldn’t be familiar with, unless they know the Student Government at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). Vakapuna is the Student Body President. His background and culture from both Samoa and Tonga are the embodiment of his main purpose at SLCC.
“I am the main advocate for SLCC students,” Vakapuna said.
He was inaugurated into office in April of 2009 and keeps his position until he is released from his duties on May 5, 2011.
Vakapuna’s responsibilities include acting as a voting member of SLCC’s Board of Trustees, with its 13 locations around the Salt Lake Valley. In addition, he is involved in policy negotiations that occur for student tuition and fees.
When Vakapuna started as Student Body President, he was surprised by the workload and duties he would have.
“I was like a deer in the headlights,” he joked. “It was more responsibility than I thought it would be.”
A day’s work for President Vakapuna focuses on his motto – “students first.” He has received a full-ride scholarship as payment for the 29 required hours of work each week in the Student Center of SLCC’s Taylorsville Redwood Campus. His office hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays are often spent helping students one-on-one with individual problems and concerns.
Vakapuna is also a full-time student, planning to major in criminal justice at the University of Utah. He attends classes from 4:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. after completing his student government duties. However, from his activities and experience at SLCC, he has become interested in majoring in anthropology.
“I’m fascinated by culture,” he said.
In addressing problems and challenges that students may have, Vakapuna explained that “taking time for students is more important than my title. It’s not about knowing the answers, but knowing the resources to point others to. Make sure you know how to motivate them.”
Vakapuna related the importance of building healthy relationships, even with those who opposed him in elections to office.
“You’re an elected leader for those who support you and those who oppose you,” he said. “You have to serve all. [In doing so] it helped me raise the bar of my attitude towards others.”
Some of those individuals have now become some of Vakapuna’s closest friends.
As Vakapuna soon passes his responsibilities on to newly elected President Mike Bird, he commented on Bird’s ability to get the job done.
“He’s a man of his word,” Vakapuna said. “If he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it.”
In retrospect, Vakapuna contemplated on his overarching goals of clarity, communication and unification within the student government – goals he hopes to see carried out.
In closing, Vakapuna wanted to attribute his success to the many people who helped him.
“My success is the success of others, in helping them carry out their ideas. My success is credited to the Executive Council, for they are the backbone of what I stand for and do.”
Now, moving onward and upward, Vakapuna expressed his love for SLCC and gave some counsel.
“I’ll always be a Bruin. It’s not just SLCC. Take pride in our Institution. I would not be where I am now without it.”