When you walk into the Student Association (S.A.) office, expect to be comfortably welcomed by newly elected President Antonio Regulier and Vice President Hughdean Blake. You immediately get a sense of the professional-yet-friendly environment they are fostering within the office.
Regulier is a junior concurrent major in Social Work and English with minors in Leadership Studies, African American studies, and Public Health. He is a native of Haiti but calls Roosevelt, Long Island, home.
Previously, he was S.A.’s chair of diversity relations, and felt that his experience in that role and other past leadership positions gave him the opportunity to become familiar with the fundamentals of S.A.
“It really helped me become more outspoken and welcoming,” he said.
When deciding whether to run for President, Regulier sensed that too many students viewed S.A. as a “tight,” governing body, rather than a source of support for clubs and students.
“It gave me a lot of ideas for how to improve S.A., and that’s what motivated me to run for president,” he explains.
When considering a running mate, Regulier wanted to someone who was well liked and respected on campus and in S.A. He soon realized that Blake was the perfect fit, and together they ran following a set of guidelines they call, “The 3 Rs: Relationships, Rejuvenation and Respect.”
Blake is a sophomore Adolescence Education major with a concentration in Social Studies. Like Regulier, he was born in another country as well — Jamaica — but was raised in New York City.
“Dean,” as he prefers to be known, says he’s a man of few words, but prefers to allow his actions to speak for themselves. He says he often defers to Regulier to be the more prominent of the two.
“Antonio is very outgoing, so if he has an idea, I’ll try to put it to work as best as I can,” says Blake of his supportive role.
With over 150 student-run clubs and organizations under the S.A. umbrella, the duo has already begun to implement many of their ideas. They complement each other well and play off of each other’s strengths. They hope to make S.A. more collaborative by continuing to improve on the good work of their predecessors by strengthening their relationships with students, faculty and staff, and connecting the different people and cultures that make up Fredonia’s campus.
“We’re here to make a change, make a difference – to show we care about people.”
