Friendship & Leadership

Perhaps it’s fitting that Undergraduate Student Government President Mikey Geragos and Vice President Vinnie Prasad went to Disneyland on Friday as one of the last events of their term, which ends today. They are, after all, not just co-leaders but close friends.

When reflecting on the past year, Geragos said he still remembers when he first thought about asking Prasad to run with him.

“I texted Vinnie the exact text someone going on an awkward blind date would text,” Geragos said with a laugh. “It was like, ‘Hey, want to meet for coffee?’”

Of course, Prasad said he had figured out Geragos’s intentions. Though Geragos had heard rumors about Prasad running for president himself, Prasad said he knew immediately what his answer would be.

“There were people who were really pushing me to run for president, but it just didn’t feel right for me,” Prasad said. “When Mikey approached me, that felt right.”

The day after the two made the decision, they were up and running their campaign and working on their plans.

Both Geragos and Prasad were members of USG all four years of their college careers and see it as the defining factor of their college experience.

Both praise the other for unique attributes that carry over into the duties of their jobs. Geragos spoke at length about Prasad’s holistic perspective when analyzing issues that affect the USG’s operations, while Prasad said Geragos is excellent at developing strong relationships with administrators.

“I love how we work together,” Geragos said.

Geragos said one major accomplishment is their work on the “Village at USC” plan. He believes the plan’s progress shows the work students can accomplish when they truly care about issues on campus. Prasad agreed that working with city officials was a rewarding experience.

“It was fun going down to City Hall and getting to speak on behalf of the students and their views,” Prasad said.

Moreover, Geragos and Prasad made it their goal to increase USG’s social media and Internet presence. They launched a new website that hosts all the information about on-campus initiatives and established a weekly newsletter, along with increasing USG’s likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter.

Nick Kosturos, the director of leadership funding for USG, said Geragos and Prasad’s leadership allowed USG to give more funding to student organizations than ever before. More than $250,000 were distributed to various student organizations from funding board allocations.

“The funding we were able to give out and better distribute because of their leadership went to student organizations for philanthropy, leadership, professional, academic and discretionary purposes,” Kosturos said.

Geragos and Prasad also restructured the organization to better detail each department’s duties. Kosturos said they changed the definitions of each committee and created a more even workload.

“[Geragos and Prasad] led a huge restructuring effort to make USG more efficient and better able to serve the student body — this much-needed reorganization will be going into effect next year,” Kosturos said.

In the past year, USG has streamlined the structure of its advocacy groups. In addition, Geragos and Prasad advocated for the building of The Village at USC,  a renovation project which was approved by the city in December. Geragos and Prasad said while they will not necessarily experience the benefits of the Village they understand that planning for the future is an important part of their job.

“There are moments when you’re focusing so much time on stuff that is not going to effect you,” Geragos said.

They both look forward to coming back and seeing how their work has grown. Prasad said they are so used to “putting out fires every week” that it would be fun to come back in the office with less stress.

“The hardest part of the student government is that you have only a year in charge of organization,” Geragos said.  “No one cares as much as you do about the organization or the success that you have, so at times it can be frustrating doing the work you feel has sometimes gone unnoticed.”

Overall, Geragos would describe the whole, sometimes hectic, term as a “learning experience.”

“We were constantly learning and constantly becoming more self-aware and more understanding of who we are truly as people, and more specifically as leaders,” Geragos said.

Prasad also said he learned more about decision-making, taking others’ ideas into account and communication.

“Even if something is a brilliant idea in my head, it doesn’t mean that it is a brilliant idea for other people,” Prasad said.

After graduation, Geragos is planning on applying to law school, while Prasad is going to work as an economic consultant and thinks that he will eventually go back to school to get a master’s in business administration.

But, until then, the two can take a sigh of relief and many more joint Disneyland trips as their yearlong term of wearing suits and improving the organization draws to a close.