I hate senior swan songs.

I hate Daily columnist swan songs even more.

I hate Daily editor in chief swan songs most of all.

So I’ll give you one. But it’ll be a little different. And I — hopefully we — won’t hate it:

You meet people when you come to college. Some you like. Some you tolerate. Some you talk about behind their backs. Some you down-right despise.

And some impress you.

One Iowa State student in particular impresses me. This guy goes by the name of Jamey Hansen. His friends, and most other people, call him Jamey. That’s probably because that’s his name.

In a college day when apathy runs high, when the bare minimum is the common denominator, Jamey bucks the norm. Jamey is, in short, everything a college student near the dawn of the new millennium should be.

Jamey is, was, or has been a lot of things as an Iowa State student. Here’s a few:

* A Government of the Student Body senator.

* Vice chairman of the GSB Senate.

* Chairman of the GSB Constitutional Convention.

* A political.

* A nice guy.

* A husband.

* Summer editor in chief of the Daily.

* Managing editor of the Daily.

* A member of the Daily Publication Board.

* A computer guru.

* Not a drinker.

* A thinker.

* A friend of mine.

* A guy who always has a better way to do things.

* A person of detail.

* Someone who knows the rules

* Someone who knows all the rules.

* A listener.

* A technological master.

* A teacher.

Put another way, Jamey’s one of those unsung ISU heroes. He’s not the guy you think of when you think of student leaders. He’s not dashing and GQ, khakis and blue blazers.

So as administrators and the more flashy student leaders struggle to push involvement, to identify that prototype student, I’m telling you that I’ve found him.

I’ve thought a lot about this as my days at this great land-grant institution fade, and my days as the leader of your student newspaper evaporate even more quickly. Friday is the last day to pick up a regular edition of the Daily this academic year, but who’s counting?

It started a couple months ago when one administrator asked me to tell him what an Iowa State student should be.

“Describe him,” he said.

I didn’t know then, but I think I know now. I think it’s this Jamey guy. Yeah, he’s a friend of mine and I’m probably biased, but I still think I’m right.

I think that because Jamey, more than anyone I know, has a desire to pass something along — not just to the younger members of his fraternity house, because he doesn’t belong to one. Jamey, rather, has visions for the Iowa State student of the next semester, the next year, the next century. He genuinely wants to give something back. He wants to make sure that when he walks past the Campanile for the last time, he’ll know that Iowa State is a better place because he was here.

Take for instance Jamey’s latest endeavor: the GSB Constitutional Convention. For those of you who haven’t been following, the constitution that Jamey wrote was up for ratification. For nearly a year now, he’s been chairing Sunday night meetings, most without a quorum, with an earnest goal of writing a better document.

The constitution needed the long half of 4,700 student votes to pass. It didn’t come close to drawing that many votes — yea or nay.

While learning at the bar the other day, I asked a couple of mouth breathers if they had voted yet.

“For what?” they asked.

“For the GSB Constitution,” I replied.

“We have one of those?” the dynamic duo chimed.

And then I knew that Jamey was cool. It takes a dedicated soul to devote the better part of a year to a document that most of those who should know, don’t know exists. The constitution may still find its way to officialdom, though. Jamey has a few things up his sleeve. He always does.

And that’s it.

If you want to know what you should be doing as a student, ask Jamey.

If you want to know something about the Daily, better call me this week.

If you want to know anything else, put your tuition dollars to work and go to class.

God forbid.

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Chris Miller is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Marshalltown. He is editor in chief of the Daily.