Beyond the Measure Episode 3: Lily Temple-Dozier

Beyond the Measure
Episode Three: Lily Temple-Dozier

This month, the hosts Sam Houston State University's Beyond the Measure podcast met with Lily Temple-Dozier, the student body president, to learn about her experience as a student leader. The following lays out the discussion in a convenient Q&A format. For the full Beyond the Measure experience, watch the full episode below or on YouTube.

Can you maybe start off by telling us what drew you to Sam Houston State University?

What kind of drew me to Sam was that my mom went here and so at first I was a little hesitant because of course no one wants to be I don't want to say not like their parents, but you want to try to do different. I was just looking around for other schools, but I ended up coming here on a tour and went to a football game, so I got to see the culture a little bit. That's kind of what drew me to Sam, was just seeing the culture and the spirit that you see here.

What are you studying while you're here?

I'm majoring in criminal justice and I'm minoring in communications studies.

 What inspired you to run for student body president?

What inspired me was honestly just the motto, “The measure of a Life is its Service.” Sam really embodies that and so I was thinking, what's the best way to do that? Getting to be student body president, serving on that larger level and getting to be the voice that the students can use to advocate for things that are important to them - to me, that was the greatest service possible. So whenever that opportunity was presented to me as something I could do, I took after it and just wanted the ability to be able to serve the students the best way possible.

What initiatives are you most proud of?

Some of the initiatives I'm most proud of, our past president and past e-board was working on those cat health vending machines. You’ve seen them maybe in the library and we're trying to get more on campus, but it's essentially where students can buy different healthcare items. They can buy medicine in somewhere discreet in the library, so they don't have to worry about going to CVS or Walgreens. Especially a lot of our freshmen that live on campus, they're able to go right through the library, get it discreetly, and then they don't have to worry about having to venture out for whatever they need.

What is something that you've learned or like has honestly like shocked you from talking to students and like what surprised you has shifted like your perspective?

Something that has shocked me, this is going to sound bad, but just how students are so happy here at Sam. I think that often with my age gap, we're often complaining and we're trying to find something wrong, but I was asked on Monday about something that I think needs to be fixed at Sam and I was struggling to find something that I think could be fixed super easy and super quickly.

I was shocked just to see how much students love Sam and how happy they are to be on this campus. Everyone loves the culture and the impact that Sam really brings to the table.

What advice would you give a student that wants to get more involved, but they just really don't know where to start?

I would say face your fears and go outside of your dorm. I think, as freshmen, it can seem like this big, large campus and there's so much to do, but the best way to get involved is to just go out of your dorm and do something. Whether that's hanging out in the lounge areas of the dormitory, going to the LSC or just walking around. I think that the best thing you can do as a freshman is get used to the culture and get acclimated so that way, you can meet your peers and meet other like-minded individuals.

I would definitely say get out of your dorm, go meet some friends, go to anything that the campus is putting on because you never know who you'll meet there. Just talk to everyone, don't be afraid. You may never see that person ever again, so just introduce yourself and say hello because you never know where it will lead you to.  

Finally, what is like something you wish you could tell your first day of college self and what's one piece of advice you would give yourself?

Something I would tell myself is probably to slow down. I think that we get so wrapped up in our goals and the different things that we want to accomplish and get done. People say stop and smell the roses and realize that you don't have to do everything super fast. It's okay to take days to rest and take time to just hang out with your friends and not always being on go mode.

So, I think that's something that I would give myself as a piece of advice is just take your time. I came to college early, whenever I was 17, and so I could have taken my time a little bit more and stayed here for four years. I'm happy with the path that I've chosen, but I definitely think slowing down and just kind of letting things happen naturally instead of always being focused on the next goal and the next big accomplishment is the way to go.