Cassidy Ann Daniel
(Canyon)—Cassidy Ann Daniel of Hereford, a senior political science major at West Texas A&M University, has been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to serve a one-year term on The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
As the lone student regent, Daniel will represent all students within the A&M System at board meetings during the next year.
“It’s overwhelming, but at the same time I’m excited to have the honor of representing students, particularly those in the Texas Panhandle, which is kind of underrepresented in state government,” Daniel said. “I don’t want this to be an arbitrary thing, just a token student on the board. I want to try and better serve students through this position, and I’m glad to see the regents are seeking student input.”
Daniel, the daughter of Pat and Susan Daniel, is a senator in WTAMU’s Student Government, and she is campus chairman of the university’s chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT). She also serves YCT in a statewide capacity as vice-chairman for chapter relations.
“I’m very big on expressing my opinion and informing others so they can form opinions,” she said. “This is a conservative area, but a lot of students here don’t know why they’re conservative. As student regent, I’ll get to use my passion for politics to help students understand issues that are important to them so that they can learn to help themselves.”
The student regent position on the board was introduced a year ago. The first student selected to serve in that capacity was from Texas A&M University.
“This is only the second year that one student regent has been selected from across the A&M System, so having that person chosen from West Texas A&M is really a big deal for us,” Don Albrecht, vice president for student services, said. “Cassie will get a chance to offer plenty of input, and I’m sure she will do an excellent job representing all her constituents.” 