Joelyne Jacob and Katie Moorcones. Courtesy photo.
With a new year comes new opportunities, and Drexel University’s Undergraduate Student Government Association’s (USGA) new president and vice president are ready to get to work.
President Joelyne Jacob, computer science and math ’26, is part of the Sanitation Health Aid Relief Project, which has driven a lot of her work in USGA. She started as a senator at the end of her first year, then became vice chair of USGA’s Civic Engagement committee in her second year. She took to the position naturally, as civic engagement is a key passion for Jacob, and helped lead the committee for a year before becoming president.
Vice President Katie Moorcones, political science and sociology ’25, was involved in the former “Can We Talk?” program in the Pennoni Honors College as a moderator and is a qualitative research assistant for the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. She is also involved in the Women’s Network, which is a new campus organization that connects women from different majors and disciplines for social and professional networking. She joined USGA at the beginning of her second year and has focused on mental health initiatives both before and after becoming the chair for the Student Life committee at the end of her second year.
The pair had collaborated in the past on initiatives across their committees, so joining forces to lead USGA was a no-brainer. They knew they had the drive to build on the foundation previous leaders had built, so Jacob and Moorcones started planning their campaign in January.
“We knew that we wanted to have fun with it and engage people in the way that we thought showcased our personalities best,” Jacob said. “We ended up making a campaign with fun photo shoots and TikToks, while also making sure that we spread awareness of our previous work and what we envisioned our roles to look like with our presidency.”
They stretched their creative muscles, spread information of their previous work and, finally, stepped into the president and vice president roles in June. Here’s an introduction to USGA’s new leadership and what they have planned for the year to come.
Q: What are your goals for your presidency/vice presidency?
Joelyne Jacob (JJ): Before we even started running, we talked about connecting with more local universities and colleges to create an intercity student council. We've had a few conversations with local schools and have already learned a lot about how their student governments run versus how ours runs, and I think we've been able to learn a lot from each other. Our goal with that is to create a council where we can continually have these discussions and improve on ourselves. We're going to be the first school in Philly with Election Day off. I also believe that every student in Philly should have Election Day off, so that drove that initiative, but we’re hoping to get a lot more out of it.
Katie Moorcones (KM): Another goal of ours is creating a more open and comfortable dialogue between admin, faculty and students. We piloted this initiative by hosting an event that had around 25 people on Zoom and in person. We had small groups of three admins and three students in each group, plus a moderator, to go over political conversations. I think it came out to over 25 people in total. Each group got to choose their own, but it started off with naming some of your most important identities, sharing what you think about voting and what matters to you. We also all went over free speech and what that means to you, and then from there you could choose between a conversation on unions, healthcare, tuition cost or mental health practices. It was interesting to see how students, faculty, admin and interacted together. We’re hoping to hold more of those events throughout the year.
Q: What advice would you share for new students who might be overwhelmed by how to get involved at Drexel and/or with USGA?
JJ: When I first got to Drexel, I got overwhelmed, and I think the thing that helped me ground myself and find spaces was finding identity and interest-based groups at Drexel. You can find them on DragonLink [Drexel’s portal for student organizations] and go from there. When I first got admitted to Drexel, I was kind of lost, so I immediately joined Women in Physics Society and Women in Computing. I also eventually also found the Drexel University Coffee Club and surprisingly made a lot of friends through that. There’s also an Involvement Fair that happens in October and I really recommend that all students, not just first-years, go to that.
KM: Stop by joint assembly; we’re open to the public and it’s from 7–9 p.m. on Mondays [Editor’s note: Check DragonLink for the location, but it’s usually at the Skyview Lounge in MacAlister Hall]. Even if you don’t end up joining USGA, it’s a great place to learn about things going on both at Drexel and in the community.
When I first got to Drexel, I was from out of state, so honestly, just exploring Philadelphia and getting over that scary hump of being in a completely new area was a great way for me to get comfortable.
I was able to find different outlets and new hobbies that I probably wouldn't have picked up on, so I would say pick something new that makes you happy, even if you feel like it's a little weird to you. Get out of your shell, go to the involvement fair, and just see what clubs you can join. If you sign up for their emails, that’s a good step in the right direction.
What was it like taking over as president and vice president?
JJ: I always knew that stepping into this role would mean filling some very big shoes, especially from Vivek [Babu, BS biological sciences ’24 and the USGA president from 2023–24], who was civic engagement chair before me, but my advisers emphasized that every president brings their own unique leadership style and work ethic. Vivek and Sanjana [Suresh, BSBA ’24 and the USGA vice president from 2023–24] set a remarkable foundation for the board, and Katie and I are committed to building on that and strengthening the board and our connection with the University community. We've met a lot of people in a very, very short amount of time and have made many connections.
KM: I met with Sanjana a few times and had also taken over for her as Student Life Chair when she became vice president, so I was stepping up again. I knew her style and what I was looking for and how I would make my own take on it. They were big shoes to fill, but it’s very exciting to build on that foundation.
Q: What projects have you been passionate about since joining USGA?
JJ: I've worked a lot on voter engagement efforts, especially as youth voter turnout is surprisingly much lower than people expect. With us having achieved Election Day off this year, we are working towards making sure that students do go out and vote.
Recently, we collaborated with Drexel’s Climate and Sustainability for Civic X EarthFest. It was an awesome event aimed at connecting community members, service organizations and student groups, and my aim with that initiative was to also include local creatives and businesses, as well as Drexel University Public Safety, because I believe they all make our community whole. Overall, I've had a personal initiative to connect with local community organizations like Clean Green and Serene, which organizes community cleanups, as well as Center for Hope, Powelton Village Civic Association and a lot more.
When I started in USGA, I was particularly interested in menstrual equality and getting menstrual products in the University, specifically in high traffic buildings on campus. Period poverty really affects your life and academic success, so I really wanted to work on that. We're working with Drexel Business Services and the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design to keep that going.
I’m also passionate about kit packing, which is a semiannual project where the Civic Engagement Committee hosts events to pack kits for marginalized groups in Philadelphia. We've always done it with the focus of Philadelphians experiencing homelessness, so these kits would be packed with things like toiletry items, blankets, socks, things like that. At our most recent event, we collaborated with organizations to help birthing mothers.
KM: When I was student life chair, I was lucky enough to work on the expansion of Drexel’s Guidance Counseling Center and how they could improve. One of the things that I also really focused on was getting a conversation around drug safety and overdose reversal education going. There are a few different orgs on campus, such as Drexel Students for Sensible Drug Policy, or DSSDP, and Drexel EMS [Drexel University Emergency Medical Services], who would do their own Narcan instruction, and other information sessions like that. We were able to connect them to Dr. Gary Davis [MD, medical director of the Drexel Student Health Center], who has been doing some programming with overdose reversal training among med students.
Another space where we’ve been able to bring up mental health was at Drexel’s Board of Trustees meetings. We're able to do a full presentation and go over initiatives and share areas where we think students would benefit from change.
I was able to oversee much more growth in the mental health area, as well as the public safety arena. We connected with Chief Mel Singleton and DUPD [Drexel University Police Department] about initiatives like an on-call vehicle escort, similar to walking escorts and at the end of last year, we had around 10 USGA senators who became certified to be self-defense instructors, so we were able to do a few sessions with them with that last year and we'll be doing a lot more during Welcome Week and during the upcoming school years.
Q: Joelyne, I know you’re involved with the Presidential Search Committee for the University’s next president — what’s that like?
JJ: Someone had recommended that I'd be on the committee, so I obviously said yes. It’s been an intense yet very rewarding opportunity. I've gained a deeper understanding of how the search process works, and I'm continuing to learn too. USGA has typically been involved in the interview process, which is what happens after the search committee. I look forward to advocating for the student perspective in these discussions and working with [Interim President] Denis O'Brien, Subir Sahu [PhD, Senior Vice President for Student Success] and the other committee members.
I would really, really encourage that if anyone has thoughts or comments, that they share them on the Presidential Transition website [editor’s note: linked to in the question]. I want to emphasize that opinions from students, faculty and staff matter. I’ve learned that my job in these committees that I sit on is to advocate for, not only the student body, but also the University community. I've already seen a lot of people reach out to me and tell me that they've put something in there and that they hope that it's talked about, and I can confidently say that we are reviewing it.