Jo Kovach (they/them) graduated in spring 2023 with a degree in social relations and policy from James Madison College. Jo served as ASMSU president from 2022-23 and currently resides in Washington D.C.
The following content is part of the series titled "Eight years of ASMSU."
What is your current profession? Did you anticipate working in this field when you were a student at MSU?
I am working with Everytown for Gun Safety in their State Government Affairs Department. I did not anticipate working in this field until after the events of February 13th. The work I was able to do with so many compassionate Spartans — to help get foundational gun reform passed in Michigan following one of the worst events a community — and humans in general — can go through, made me want to continue doing this work.
As you reflect on your time as ASMSU President, what are you most proud of?
I am proud of everything that my team and I were able to do in the wake of February 13th. We fought for credit/no-credit grading and a plethora of other academic supports, created the Spartan Love Fund to quickly fund events to bring our community back together, paid for hundreds of replacement Spartan IDs, worked with MSUPD and Public Safety to create a myriad of safety precautions going forward to make Spartans feel safer, hosted a townhall for students to tell administrators their needs directly, hosted a support week with events for students, worked a ton on the state government side to help with foundational gun reform, and so much more that happened behind the scenes.
I am proud of anything we did to take even a little bit of weight off students' shoulders so that they could focus on healing as best as they could. I think I might always wish I could have done more, but I was also just a student figuring everything out day by day.
In what ways did your time as president prepare or inform the work you have done since graduating?
Besides the obvious of working on and watching the process of foundational gun reform happen in Michigan at the state level during my presidency, I would say there is a ton more I did not necessarily think of until I began work. Most importantly, being the president solidified for me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with utilizing empathy for others as a key factor in any work that you may do in life.
This position gave me experience that not a lot of people get during their undergraduate career: Leading an almost sixty-year-old organization with 60+ paid staff and chairing meetings of 40+ representatives, learning how to utilize the media best to publicize student issues, being the voice for 40,000 undergraduate students to administrators, politicians and other stakeholders, and mastering the art of amending decades-old organizational policies.
Lastly, this position allowed me to learn that it is extremely imperative to understand the historical precedence of the way things are to change them to better the lives of those around you in a substantial way.
Is there a particular Madison professor and/or class that really stands out as having been instrumental in shaping your ideas and values?
Rashida Harrison was extremely instrumental in who I am as a person. I took three separate courses with Dr. Harrison: My first semester for MC 202, MC 368: Civil Rights Movements last fall and my senior seminar during the spring of 2023.
I joined JMC in the second semester of my freshman year (spring 2020), so I constantly felt like I did not belong. Professor Harrison was the first professor I felt like I connected with at MSU, which meant the world to me as a first-generation student.
She encouraged me to speak out against things I felt were wrong and was the first professor to make me feel like someone believed in my potential. She was the first person of authority in my life to use my chosen name as I was in the process of coming out as a non-binary person and is the person that encouraged me to pursue Social Relations and Policy, which I am forever grateful for!
Professor Harrison's MC 202 taught me that everything in the world is a lesson in the making and worthy of questioning. Finally, I had Professor Harrison during two of the worst semesters possible: the semester we were sent home because of the pandemic and the semester we endured the mass tragedy. Her unwavering empathy and compassion for her students struck me more than anything I have ever learned in a classroom.
How has Madison prepared you for where you are today, and do you have any advice to offer current students?
Madison gave me the tools to not only question the world, but to understand it and make meaningful changes that the world needs, and that is so vital when you start to get into the realm of policymaking.
College is such a unique time to find yourself. I highly recommend taking as many opportunities as possible to step out of your comfort zone, meet new people and become a new and improved version of yourself all the time!