UNC Wilmington students cast their online ballots last week and they have officially made their pick for president.

Zach Steffey, the current junior class senator, won 53 percent of the student vote-beating out fellow candidates, Matt Simpson and Meghan Munch, to be UNCW’s student body president for the 2013-2014 school year.

“He’s just a really laid back guy who loves UNCW, really easy going. Having that type of personality, taking one day at a time, makes it easy to move forward,” said Keith Fraser, the current student body president

A non-traditional perspective

Steffey is a transfer student from UNC Charlotte, studying politic science with a minor in public administration. He says that being a transfer student gave him an edge in the election.

“It’s one thing that made me a unique candidate. I’m able to understand the transfer students,” Steffey said. “I had to work to make friends and I had to get involved.”

As part of his platform, Steffey hopes to provide more resources for transfer students as well as resources for other non-traditional students, like student veterans.

The president-elect also grew up in a non-traditional household-his father worked for the Navy, so their family moved almost every two years. The constant moving forced Steffey to meet people in new environments, he said. He came to UNCW barely knowing anyone, so he immediately got involved.

“I have a unique perspective on different backgrounds of people in different situations,”Steffey said. “I moved to North Carolina my freshman year of high school. I can say that it’s my favorite place to live so far.”

A desire to get involved

Steffey was involved in high school community service projects, having previously served as a Key Club lieutenant governor.

At UNCW, he has served as a lieutenant governor for the UNCW Circle K Club, one of the largest collegiate community service organizations.  Steffey has also served as the Resident Hall Association liaison for student government committees.

His father’s profession essentially inspired his love of politics.

“I’ve always been interested in representing people and serving people’s best interests,” he said.

Love for the community

Like a true Wilmington resident, Steffey has embraced another much-loved hobby-surfing.

“If I’m not doing something, or school work or work with the community, then I’m at the beach surfing. That’s what I love about Wilmington, I get to enjoy nice days like that,” Steffey said.

Wilmington and the campus community quickly became a great fit for Steffey. He also loves photography, specifically weather-related photos, and he has developed an interest in acting since attending UNCW. Believe it or not, he once acted as Owen Wilson’s stunt double during the filming of the upcoming movie, “You Are Here.”

“I like to try a little bit of everything,” Steffey said.

Building UNCW’s sports program

Steffey recognizes the need for more student involvement in the sports program at UNCW. 

As a member of ACE, he has already reached out to ACE officials for help with a potential incentive program to get students to buy more sports game tickets.

“Everyone talks about improving school spirit, and that’s what everyone has said. It’s not that school spirit is bad here, but it’s something that we could continue to grow and expand upon,” Steffey said.

Steffey has a sports background himself-he’s played soccer since he was five years old. One of his favorite community service projects was in Lake Waccamaw for the Boys and Girls Club. He got to play soccer with the kids there and encouraged them to continue playing for a chance at a scholarship one day, Steffey said.

An ambitious to-do list

Even though there is a lot on Steffey’s to-do list, he’s confident that his goals are realistic. He wants to have goals he knows he can “check off.”

“I want to achieve everything on that platform,”Steffey said. “They wouldn’t have gone on there if I didn’t. We met with the vice chancellor to talk about what was achievable, and if it wasn’t, we took that out.”

In addition to his realistic goals, he wants to be approachable and receptive to all student perspectives while being passionate about the well-being of UNCW and the Wilmington community.

“The main thing is that we’re all coming together as Seahawks, to build a cohesive group,” Steffey said.

Part of Steffey’s platform focused on the access of university services to the students. He’s made a plan for a UNCW mobile app, which could provide better access to calendars, scheduling, updates, and a Wave shuttle tracker.

“As a benchmark goal, I want to see this application be brought to the students,” Steffey said. “We’re trying to be user-friendly, and make it convenient for the students in real time. I want to move to more technology-based systems.

Other schools in the region are big on this-we need to get up to speed.”

In addition to his technological master plan, he hopes to address the issues of parking and Chancellor’s Walk traffic.

“As a long-boarder myself, it’s frustrating to be cut off… It’s a safety concern,” said Steffey in reference to the on-campus foot and wheel traffic.

A politician in the making

Steffey hopes to use his political voice in the future. He plans to apply to law schools next year so that he can join the air force as a judge advocate attorney, following a similar path to his father’s. He also wants to get involved in state politics, and dreams of running for governor. He’s even started his campaign for governor already-he has a Facebook page for it.

“When I’m ready for governor, I want to say that I started campaigning before anyone else… You never know,” Steffey said.

Before Steffey represents the state, at the end of his term at UNCW, he hopes to be remembered as a good representative for all the student’s best interest.