CREDIT: STEPHANIE LAI
Alan Bushell was elected Fanshawe Student Union's next president on March 12. A position he says he's "really excited" about.

He’s the lanky guy who bears a striking resemblance to the character on Interrobang’s last cover. He’s 31, is in school for IT but doesn’t necessarily want to work in the field. He’s also “young at heart” and is your newest presidential elect.

His name is Alan Bushell.

Winning the presidential race was an emotional one for him, and he admits to shedding a few tears.

“I’ve never actually been that happy in my lifetime,” he said. “I’m so excited to have this opportunity.”

This is Bushell’s second time around in a post-secondary institution. Prior to this, he studied the same thing – Computer Systems Technician – at Algonquin College in Ottawa.

“The first time [around], I was not a successful student,” he said. “The services [at Fanshawe] and the atmosphere and the staff and the students have basically inspired me to turn my life around.”

“Fanshawe has been the most positive experience in my entire life.”

Prior to Fanshawe, Bushell worked for over three years in Belleville, Ont. – his hometown.

“I was working on an assembly line for automotive parts,” he said. “I was just pressing buttons and pushing things to the left. This has been quite the turnaround for me.”

Bushell says he remembers his first day in class.

“The first day my professor came in the room and he was actually excited to be there,” he said. “From that exact moment on, everything has just kept on rolling and there’s general excitement about being a student here – it’s just fantastic.”

It was just the beginning for him, as he found himself on the Student Administrative Council that same year.

He said what got him excited to be a part of student governance was a small fix he helped to get accomplished.

Bushell reminisced about a light-crossing button that was broken – an issue that was brought up in a meeting with class reps.

“It had nothing to do with what we do at all – it wasn’t a Fanshawe student issue, it was a city, municipal thing,” he said. “[The president at the time] made a phone call, and the city was there within 10 minutes to fix it.”

“When we came back to the class rep meeting, that student was so excited over that one little thing that I knew you could make an impact in people’s lives that’s so far reaching that I need to do this as much as I could.”

Bushell says all it took to become interested in the Fanshawe Student Union was a two-second conversation with then-president Adam Gourlay.

“I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of,” he said. “I was here for practical reasons and just through the positive engagement with the administration at that time and just the staff in general, I just felt it was something I wanted to get involved with.”

Bushell hasn’t begun his term yet but is already thinking about what his legacy will be.

“[I want to be] the president who brought in that one special event that everyone continues to use.”

Sex Toy Bingo, for example, was an event that a past president brought in that became a “marquee event.”

“I want to be the president who oversaw the executive team who came up with one special thing that everybody looks forward to.”