How This Alumnus Went From Residence Hall President to Student Body President

hayden tanabe lmu rha - How This Alumnus Went From Residence Hall President to Student Body President

Hayden Tanabe’s leadership journey started in the Residence Hall Association during his first year at LMU. By the time he was a senior, he was elected as the president of the Associated Students of Loyola Marymount University. Now as an alumnus, Hayden looks to build upon those experiences and continue his journey off the bluff.

Hayden Tanabe ‘18
Major: Management
Hometown: Torrance, California

Transitioning out of a very involved high school career, I wanted to choose a university that would allow me to get involved on a large scale right away and take an active role in shaping the community around me. I was able to find that at Loyola Marymount University.

I started my leadership journey in Del Rey South during my first few weeks of college when I was elected as the president of my hall government. Joining the Residence Hall Association (RHA) in Student Housing provided me with the opportunity to plan social events for our building, represent the needs of our residents, and advocate for change in the community. On top of this, the older members of the organization took me to two regional leadership conferences with them to represent LMU during my first year and I absolutely fell in love with residential student government there.

I built off of my first-year experiences with RHA and was later elected to represent over 3,000 students living on campus as our university’s RHA president for my sophomore and junior years.

I networked with many students and employees, learned a lot about how the university functions, traveled to nine different conferences across the country, and led numerous initiatives with my team when I served in this role. I also definitely felt the growing pains, as I learned a lot about myself and my capabilities as a developing student leader.

Overall, the largest thing that RHA provided me with was a platform to take the next step in my leadership journey and accomplish my freshman year dream of becoming our student body president during my senior year.

In my eyes, my LMU experience is not over — it is just beginning.”

With a record-breaking voter participation rate of 60.4%, I was honored to be elected as the president of the Associated Students of Loyola Marymount University (ASLMU) for the 2017-18 academic year. Our team was able to empower the voice of the students and promote a vibrant campus life. This was by far the greatest opportunity that I have ever had and will remain eternally grateful for the memories that were made in this position.

I have always believed the LMU experience to be vastly different than other college experiences because of our Ignatian Heritage. As a student educated in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions, I approached my roles as RHA president and ASLMU president in a very intentional way that was congruent with our university’s shared values and mission. By practicing Ignatian values, I was able to learn more about careful discernment and utilized this exercise in reflection to become acutely aware of self and make the best decisions possible for the student body.

In my eyes, my LMU experience is not over — it is just beginning. These four years on the bluff have afforded me a new lens to see the world with and will inform all of my future actions of being with and for others in everything that I do. I look forward to answering St. Ignatius’ call to set the world on fire.