“I was a member of the women’s swim and dive team for my first two years of college. I put all of my time and energy into my sport, as well as being involved with a student-athlete social justice group.

I had to medically retire from diving after my sophomore year because of a back injury I had that was progressively getting worse and preventing me from diving. I was looking for another avenue to put my energy and time towards and I decided to run for student government. I was elected as the senator for the College of Social and Behavioral Science for the 2023-24 school year. I am also the Senate Chair of the Associate Students of the University of Utah, ASUU.

I am a political science major, which is part of the reason I was interested in running for student government. It’s been helpful for me to learn more about the legislative process, even if it is on a small scale. I have loved seeing the tangible changes we are making happen. For example, I worked on the initiative to get the library open earlier on Sundays so more students could access it. And now this semester, it will be opening at 11 a.m. instead of noon. It is a really good feeling to see your ideas being put into action.  

I will graduate in the spring, and I definitely want to work in the political realm. I am interested in being a campaign manager or doing other kinds of campaign work because I recently volunteered on one. Although it was a lot of work, it was really fun and I liked seeing the behind-the-scenes. In the future, I hope to run for public office because I want to try and make actionable change, especially in the state of Utah.”

 — Hannah Truax, senator for College of Social and Behavioral Science, ASUU Senate Chair,

political science major