Many students at UVU roll out of bed at around 10 a.m. and lethargically amble into class. While this is sometimes the case for our Student Body President, Trevor Tooke, the typical morning for him begins a little before 6 a.m.
“Although I may not seem like a morning person, sometimes I do enjoy getting an early start on the day … I have also been known to sleep in until 9 or 10 a.m. some mornings,” says Tooke.
After picking up a hot chocolate and breakfast sandwich at the Wolverine Café, he is off to a day of classes, studying and meetings. “Some days I go to four to five hours of meetings,” he says.
He also has the opportunity to plan events with the student leaders. Displaying great concern for the students of UVU, he participates in many planning sessions that address student interests, which sessions, according to him, “help us create successful events that meet the needs of the students.”
While Tooke is a student just like the rest of us, his schedule is probably more packed than most of ours, with a day ending around 11 p.m to 12 a.m. He is, however, willing to have a busier schedule and spend more time at the school and in his office if it means he can make himself more available to the students he represents.
“Since becoming Student Body President, my days have gotten busier and I became much more flexible. I start them earlier and end them later. I also expect the unexpected,” Tooke explained. “I attend classes and try to keep my GPA high. I get to speak to groups large and small and I get asked what the students would think about everything.”
Though he might not have as much time as he once did, he still enjoys spending time with friends, seeing movies, going to dinner, playing sports, flying remote control helicopters and playing billiards.
After a long day of school and representing the students of UVU, it is necessary for him to make leisure time.
“I read, exercise, clean, pastel paint, golf, take hot baths and hang out with my wife,” he says. “We make food together and talk about our days and that helps me wind down. I love watching the news or sports on TV too from the comfort of my love sac.”
Tooke carries a lot of responsibility, but those responsibilities and long hours have given him the opportunity to witness things that many of us don’t have the chance to see.
“I have a better understanding of the mechanics of UVU and how everything is working together and what is going on behind the scenes to make it all work. It has given me a better appreciation for many things like custodian’s long hours or [the grounds crew's] physically demanding workload,” Tooke said.
“No matter where you go or what you do you are being watched, so you must always act responsibly because you never stop representing the UVU students. I have to be approachable and ready to deflate rumors or explain things to people all the time. I answer a lot of questions via e-mail and in person each day, so being politically correct and accurate is important and requires me to do my homework,” Tooke said of his daily routine.
Tooke is one who understands well the strain of a demanding workload in his day-to-day schedule, but he finds that all the work is worth the effort. He says his plea to the students is to let UVUSA know how they can be more accurately represented.
I may be talking to the student body president but by the way he constantly drums his fingers on his desk, you’d think he was the nervous one. Trevor Tooke reaches into his drawer and displays two drumsticks, explaining that he has a pair in his desk at all times. “I used to be in a band called Lightning Fry,” he laughs.
