Like the Door to Narnia – An Interview with SGA President Annjeannette Mitchell
Meet your new campuswide 2023 SGA president, Annjeannette Mitchell! With an impressive history of serving the Florida College System (and an obsession with water theme parks!), Annjeannette sat down with the Splash Blog to discuss leadership strategies, achieving your goals, and how campus clubs can change your life.
What brought you to Eastern Florida State College?
Annjeannette: It’s actually a funny story. I grew up in Orlando, FL, went to Colonial High School, and was here on what I thought would be a two-year spring break my senior year. But it was March 2020, so my two-week spring break became a permanent move due to COVID-19. I stuck around.
What’s your current role in SGA?
Annjeannette: I was the Vice President last year. I’m currently the Palm Bay Campus Activity Chair. My team and I organize and put together campus events, like Welcome Back or Fall Fest. We have to know who else is tabling (or having a table at the event) and where they’ll be positioned. There are other campus services we coordinate with as well. For example: What food services will we arrange?
What’s the most important part of your role as Activity Chair?
Annjeannette: The most critical thing I do as Chair is calling weekly meetings. We sit down once a week and put big events together. Planning is my biggest role. I help coordinate everything.
You’re not just the Activity Chair of the EFSC Palm Bay SGA. What other roles do you have?
Annjeannette: I’m also the President of the Florida College System, Student Government Association. It’s over all 28 two-year colleges in the state of Florida. I just finished our last conference, so my term is ending in about two months.
How did you become President of the SGA Florida College System?
Annjeannette: The Palm Bay SGA team had already been involved with the Florida College System SGA before I got there. I was Palm Bay Vice President at the time. One year ago, I had been called to a President’s Assembly, where all the presidents and vice presidents of all the Florida college SGA’s have a meeting together. During that meeting, one of the officers said that there were officer positions open. I took it upon myself to apply and ended up getting the position of Director of Legislative Affairs, which was a higher position than I applied for! After that, I decided to run for President, and the rest is history.
Tell me about the statewide conferences you managed during your time as President.
Annjeannette: This year I put together 3 statewide conferences. There are quite a few moving parts. I, along with the rest of the Executive Board, would come up with the session topics and get those sessions coordinated. We would come up with late-night activities. We were always asking ourselves: How do we keep the students entertained after the event? For example, we would come up with team-building activities. We’d show up to the conference day early to put everything together, like the conference booklet, attendees’ name tags, luncheon… All those little details.
Then, at every conference, I have to call a President’s Assembly. I get all the campus SGA presidents together during the conference and talk about the organization’s business. We encourage students to talk to their legislators. And we, as a State Executive Board, also send a delegation to the legislators. I had a hand in choosing the bills that we would advocate for and did all the necessary research for that.
What’s one of the coolest experiences you’ve had at these SGA conferences?
Annjeannette: I’ve been on the Executive Board for two years. During that time, I’ve had the opportunity to meet other college presidents, which I think is really cool. Seeing the relationship between the other colleges and their administration makes me think about the relationship that I as a student Council President want to have with the administration at EFSC. One of the greatest things about the Florida College System SGA is that you go to these conferences, and you meet other students doing what you’re doing, just in a different way. You can bounce ideas off each other. Daytona State College was the most recent conference I attended.
You’re also part of Sigma Beta Delta. Could you tell me about that?
Annjeannette: It’s an Honor Society that operates mainly on the Melbourne campus. One of my professors, Professor Russo, is a sponsor of the club. One day in class, he posted about it on his announcement page. So I went to the meeting, and they were like, “Hey, we’re looking for a Vice President. Are you interested at all?” And I just kind of jumped in, and the rest is history.
What do you consider two of the most important traits a leader should have, and how have you gotten to use these during your roles?
Annjeannette: The most important trait is emotional intelligence. You really need to be able to read people—your team, the “room”—especially during a meeting when issues are being brought up. You need to be able to approach these concerns properly. Sometimes sugarcoating is the answer. Sometimes you just have to be straightforward. You need to be able to know your team and superiors. It’s about how you talk to each other and how you solve disagreements that really matters at the end of the day. Following that, it’s important to have a sense of understanding. Listening is very important, because if you don’t listen, you’re going to miss something.
What is the secret to balancing all these leadership positions?
Annjeannette: Just taking everything one step at a time is really important. When it comes to planning, every plan has a sub-plan, has subsections… Everything’s very organized. And the reason why I’m so meticulous is that narrow plans give you more room for mistakes. You have to plan alternatives.
Do you have a process you use to approach work that helps you structure, organize, and ensure it gets done?
Annjeannette: I’ll talk about Fall Fest, because it’s the easiest, but with the most moving parts. Every campus does something for Halloween and we hold Fall Fest annually. It’s our big Halloween party. As the Activity Chair, I, along with my team, come up with the theme. We look for the decorations, choose the food, come up with the prizes and competitive games, as well as some non-prize winning activities. There’s also a costume contest.
It’s a lot, so one thing that is really important is to write it down. We have a huge whiteboard on wheels in our office. I put “Fall Fest” on it and write everything down—the budget, decorations, prizes… Whether it’s a brainstorm or if it’s a solidified idea, I put it on the board. Then, you can look at it every day. You go home, you sleep on it. Maybe have a weird dream, and you come in the next day and write it down on the board. Then when we meet on Monday, we look at the board and say, “Okay team, what are we keeping and what are we erasing?”
Let’s talk a little bit about you. What are 3 fun facts about yourself?
Annjeannette: I have five dogs. Four came from a family friend, and one was a rescue. I like reading novels. I’m really obsessed with Disney. I love theme parks—especially water parks. My favorite park is Volcano Bay. Something I love about Florida is that there’s no shortage of water parks or beaches.
What are you most passionate about?
Annjeannette: This will probably be the nerdiest answer you’ve ever heard, but I am really passionate about parliamentary procedure and Robert’s Rules of Order. Through Sigma Beta Delta, I actually hosted a seminar teaching club officers and a few SGA Council members about Robert’s Rules. I’m thinking about making it an annual thing.
Through a networking group that Sigma Beta Delta showed me, I found another group, the Apollo 11 Unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians. And so soon, probably in the next few months, I’ll be taking an exam. Hopefully, once I take that exam, I will be an official member of the National Association of Parliamentarians.
What do you hope to accomplish? Do you have a career goal?
Annjeannette: When I first got into college, I wanted to go into cybersecurity. But as I started doing more SGA stuff, I realized that I wanted to be more involved in government. For a while, I considered being a Foreign Service Officer specializing in political science. You know, working in an embassy and everything like that. That’s still very much something that I want to do, but just doing government in America, working in the Capital, would be great, too.
What would you say is the most important thing you learned about yourself during your time at SGA or at Sigma Beta Delta?
Annjeannette: That I can teach people. Before, I would have thought, “What do you mean, mentor somebody? I can’t mentor anybody! I don’t know how to teach you. I couldn’t teach a dog how to bark. I couldn’t teach a bird how to fly.” Through SGA and SBD, I’ve taught a lot of people, just not in the conventional way. I teach by showing, not by talking. I don’t learn by reading or listening. I learn by doing. And so instead of teaching by writing or teaching by talking, I teach by showing.
What are your proudest accomplishments?
Annjeannette: My #1 greatest accomplishment is just sticking through to the end of the year in the Florida College System Student Government Association, because there were many challenges there. I didn’t know that I had this much resilience in me until I pushed through it and realized that I made it to the other side just fine. My #2 accomplishment is my Robert’s Rules seminar because I don’t consider myself good at teaching. But somehow, I walked into an auditorium and could stand up on a stage and teach a group of people something, and they all seem to get it at the end of it. I’ve talked to crowds as small as 10 and as big as 300.
I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot academically too. I hold a 4.0 GPA and made the Florida College System Activities Association All-Academic Team. Even if you get involved with a club or SGA, your classes come first.
Since you mentioned public speaking: Is there anything that helps you with the butterflies and the jitters?
Annjeannette: The hardest part is getting on the stage and starting. Most mistakes that people make in their speech happen within the first 5 minutes. Once you get into the flow, you don’t even feel like you’re up there.
What else do you see on the horizon for you?
Annjeannette: I am currently completing my bachelor’s in Organizational Management, Public Administration specialization at EFSC. I plan to graduate in spring 2024. And after that, I want to get my master’s degree at UCF.
Through my SGA journey, I’ve learned not to keep my goals too specific. Because if I do that, I could lose sight of other opportunities. I’m always looking for the newest thing to jump into because I love a challenge. I love learning. And even though I’m an introvert, I kind of do love meeting new people.
Let’s say a student asks, “Why should I get involved in SGA, Sigma Beta Delta, Phi Theta Kappa, or another honors society with leadership positions?” What would you tell them?
Annjeannette: I think that SGA is something everyone should dip their toes into at least once. Just go to SGA as an ambassador or a volunteer. You’re going to pick up public speaking skills, communication skills, and networking skills, which are important in any industry. The people you network with through SGA aren’t limited to government-related careers. There are cybersecurity specialists, chefs, agriculture specialists… SGA and Honor Societies are like the door to Narnia. It may look like a little closet, but once you open it, you realize there’s so much more in there.
You’re such a successful person! What motivates you? What drives you to achieve so much?
Annjeannette: What drives me to achieve is the feeling I get when I can say “I did it.” There are a lot of people in my life that I would love to see proud of me. I don’t think I’ve always been like that, but at some point during the pandemic, I just came to a realization that I can do whatever I want, and I should strive to be the best.
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Ready to get involved with your campus this semester? Check out the complete list of clubs and organizations and start your journey toward exciting new experiences!
Clubs and organizations are a great way to learn about what you like and what career may be right for you. Don’t forget, if you have questions about your career path, you can connect with your campus’ Career Center for personalized assistance. We look forward to helping you succeed this semester!
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