It’s hard to imagine as a college student having the opportunity to introduce the president of the United States. It’s even harder to imagine introducing the president of the United States while still in college. But to Mischa Olson, senior in biology, that dream became a reality last week when President Barack Obama came to campus and she was given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to introduce him to her peers.

Olson, the membership team leader for the ISU College Democrats, was vetted and chosen by the Obama campaign’s headquarters in Chicago to be the student to introduce the president during his visit last week. Through her work this summer as coordinating and campaigning for the Obama campaign throughout Ames, Olson was seen as more than qualified for the introduction.

“I was incredibly surprised and honored that they had selected me to introduce the president,” Olson said. “During the vetting process, the Obama campaign asked me questions like what issues I was passionate about, my interests and my experiences working for the campaign back in 2008.”

Upon receiving confirmation that she was to give the introduction speech, Olson was tasked with writing a draft of her speech and sending it to headquarters before the planned visit.

“The most nerve-wracking things was writing the first draft of my speech and sending it into HQ, but they didn’t get back to me until the night before,” Olson said. “So I had less time to prepare.”

However, the speech fiasco turned out to be the only issue that came up during the entire event. What’s more, before Olson went up on stage, Obama had a short conversation with her.

“While Harkin was speaking, President Obama leaned up against the wall, and we actually chatted for five or six minutes,” Olson said. “I got the impression he was a very friendly, personable guy. He also met my parents after his speech and even remembered their professions from when we had our conversation.”

When the moment finally came to give her speech to introduce the president, Olson said she felt comfortable up on stage and didn’t really feel nervous. The only issues she faced were the unexpected echo from the microphone bouncing off of Beardshear Hall and not knowing when to pause to allow the crowd to clap.

“Mischa did a phenomenal job,” said ISU College Democrats President Abhishek Vemuri, who also gave a speech before Obama took the stage. “The event was awesome and a great way to start off the year for us.”

Olson said Obama was able to sign her copy of his book, “The Audacity of Hope,” and even left a note in there for her. The note said: “To Mischa, You have a wonderful future ahead of you. Dream big. Barack Obama.”

“His note gave me the inspiration to work hard,” Olson said. “When the leader of the free world tells you you have a bright future, you should probably take his advice.”