When Joseph Shepard — the incumbent Student Government Association president — initially considered his college options, Wichita State wasn’t on the list.
“I was actually enrolled at another institution in California,” he says. However, his father, a minister, was transferred to Wichita’s St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. A native Californian, Shepard stayed in San Diego to finish high school, but did visit his parents.
During his time in Wichita, he took a campus tour with Natalie Toney, a program coordinator for WSU’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
It didn’t take long for Shepard to reconsider his collegiate destination. “I fell in love with the institution and the environment,” he says. “WSU offered so many leadership and growth opportunities for students.”
At Wichita State, Shepard has embraced these opportunities. In addition to serving as SGA president and previously as a senator-at-large, he has been active with the Black Student Union, as a facilitator for Men of Excellence, president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, president of the Multicultural Greek Council and an ambassador for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
He also serves as a youth minister at St. Paul AME Church. In recognition of his leadership, he was selected as a 2015 Man of the Year finalist.
Shepard is studying criminal justice and psychology, and plans to graduate in May 2016. He aspires to work in student affairs. “I would like to impact first-generation, marginalized communities on higher education campuses,” he says. “I want to work in an office such as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.”
Shepard, whose family at times struggled to keep the lights on and food on the table, and even endured a period of homelessness, wants to provide encouragement to others who have faced hardships, and let them know that success in college is possible.
He also hopes to affect those whose lives need new direction. “I want to become a public defender in the future to help give those individuals who get lost in life a second opportunity to get it right,” he says.
As for the present, some of Shepard’s goals as SGA president are to promote unity among those with differing lifestyles, beliefs and backgrounds, to be a voice for those who struggle to be heard, and to increase cross-cultural understanding.
“I want to be able to enhance someone else’s life so they can enjoy their time here,” he says. “If I can touch one person and change their outlook on life, I’ve done my job.”
