Student leaders learn what’s happening around campus from Andy Walling, Government of the Student Body Director of Campus Awareness.

GSB President T.J. Schneider created the position at the beginning of his executive term last April and appointed Walling.

Walling acts as “a communication vehicle between the executives and the other groups on campus,” Schneider said. “He tells us what he’s heard, what he’s doing and how we can get involved.”

One of Walling’s recent projects is with the Student Alumni Leadership Council’s Student Spirit Committee. The group is creating a new student spirit group that will serve as a central rallying point at Hilton Coliseum games next year, Walling said.

Walling helped prepare the speech Schneider gave about the student spirit group at the girls’ basketball game Feb. 5.

“We’re nothing without the students behind us,” Walling said.

During fall semester, Walling worked with the residence halls and greek houses to create a Campus Awareness Committee.

“It was created specifically to reach out in a way we hadn’t reached out before,” Walling said. “It’s a big responsibility to try to bring the students’ voices to GSB.”

Bringing student groups together is something Walling was doing long before he was appointed to his position. Two years ago, as RCA president, he coordinated the creation of an award-winning float for Veishea.

“For Veishea, I got RCA paired up with Phi Delta Theta and Chi Omega,” he said. “Having been in the greek system and in the residence halls, I tried to get them to work cooperatively.”

Schneider said Walling was well-prepared to serve as director of campus awareness by his involvement as RCA president and later as a GSB senator.

“The broad experience [and] campus-wide experience, was really what we were looking for,” Schneider said.

Schneider said it will be the decision of the next GSB president whether to appoint a new director of campus awareness after Walling’s term is over. Each president gets a chance to restructure his or her cabinet, he said.

“It might be hard to find someone who’ll fill that position in the way that he does,” Schneider said. “He brings a lot of motivation and a lot of enthusiasm to the position.”

Dave Boike, GSB finance director, worked with Walling on GSB’s finance committee last year. He said Walling “knows a lot about everything.”

“I can get an outside opinion from someone who knows about finance from him,” he said.

Walling, senior in management information systems, will graduate in May. Walling said he plans to attend law school. After three years of active involvement in student government, he said it was time for him to move on.

Until then, he’s more than willing to listen to students who want their voices heard.

“[I want to] make ISU students feel like GSB works for them,” Walling said.