Owen Parrish has been Auburn's student body president for the past year and his time in office is coming to a close.
Parrish, senior in civil engineering, said he has enjoyed his time serving the Auburn student body.
"I will say that I am worn out, but I loved it," Parrish said. "I was challenged in a lot of different ways and parts of it were difficult, but it was an incredible experience."
Parrish said he did not come to Auburn with the intent of getting involved in the Student Government Association.
"I had never been a part of SGA at all until college," Parrish said. "I got here and it was something that some older friends of mine suggested I get into."
Parrish decided to participate as a freshman and stayed involved with SGA throughout his time at Auburn and said it became something that he really enjoyed.
"During my junior year, I got to work with facilities management on a certain project that was designing a new classroom facility," Parrish said. "That was the first project that I got to do something related to SGA and my major that I really loved and really enjoyed and was passionate about."
Parrish said he saw his involvement in SGA as a way to serve and improve the University for the students and that is what he cared about.
"Even though I liked being involved with it up until my junior year, I still didn't have a desire to become president at that point," Parrish said.
Parrish was the last one out of the four candidates to decide to run for the presidency.
"When I won, I saw it as a great opportunity for me to continue to serve the student body," Parrish said.
Parrish said being president for a year has reaffirmed his love for Auburn.
"It has made me realize the reasons for which I truly care about this university and its people," Parrish said. It emphasized to me that Auburn is not bricks and mortar, but it is the relationships that you make while you are here that makes it so special."
Parrish said he has learned many things over the past year that will help him with his career.
"Politics are not in my future plans, but I think there are so many skills that I learned not only as president, but during my four years with SGA that will translate into what I want to do in the future," Parrish said. "I learned a lot about leadership and the importance of communicating with people on a personal level."
Parrish said he is in the process of phasing out as president and working with the newly elected Harrison Mills transition into his new role.
"It was important to have a great team around me to help push me and SGA forward and I think Harrison is doing a great job of that right now," Parrish said. "I also told him to set objectives and goals for his team and to pursue and stick to them."
Parrish said he is looking forward to the rest of the spring semester as a time to catch up with friends who he has not been able to spend as much time with during the past year.
He also said he is looking forward to catching up on a lot of sleep and getting to relax.
"I have loved every minute and it has made me realize the reasons for which I truly care about this university and its people," Parrish said.
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