Emily Rizvic, a senior majoring in political science, is one of four senators from Student Government graduating from Iowa State after the fall semester. 

Rizvic first joined Student Government as a freshman looking for ways to become involved on campus. She received a mass email from the Student Government Election Commission for recruitment and joined as a commission member.  

Rizvic later went on to fulfill the role as election commissioner, where she oversaw and administered the Student Government Elections. Rizvic said she enjoyed witnessing the level of creativity and education each campaign went through during the election process. During her time in Student Government, Rizvic served on all three branches including judicial, executive and legislative.

Rizvic ended up resigning as election commissioner to run in the elections in hopes to promote transparency and a better working culture. She decided to run for the seat of United Residents of Off Campus (UROC) opposed to LAS because she said she was informed on resources in Ames to support student tenants in Ames and Story County. 

“Remember that any project or initiative that you are working on, please bring in key stakeholders and to continuously work towards empowering students outside of Student Government in making decisions for our community here,” Rizvic said to future senators in Student Government.

Outside of Student Government, Rizvic works for two internships relating to her major. She is a planning intern for the Planning and Development Department. Currently she works on public engagement and outreach toolkits for the department to utilize. In the past Rizvic also worked on policies regarding conservation subdivision and environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands and prairies. 

Her second internship is with the City of Indianola as a planning intern for the Community of Economic development Department. Rizvic wrote the official rental housing code and has begun the implementation of a rental housing inspection program. Rizvic said the policies that are now officially in the Code of Ordinance for the city were written based on collaboration with landlords and tenants from the city. 

Rizvic said one of her favorite memories from Iowa State was during quarantine because she was able to do it with her closest friends.

“Because things were more relaxed with classes, we had more opportunities to learn and try new things together,” Rizvic said in an email response. “We would cook meals together using recipes we would find online and halfway through go rogue and make it our own recipe. We would dance together in our small living room at Freddy Court. I think there were a lot of special memories that we made during that short timeframe.”

Next steps for Rizvic include searching for job opportunities in the planning field within the public sector. She said she hopes to become certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners and will potentially receive a masters degree in planning. To incoming students Rizvic said it is okay to not have everything figured out at the state of college. 

“When I came in, I was very set on what I wanted to be and do,” Rizvic said. When I allowed myself to try new things, it helped me realize what I wanted in my life for myself in the future and find my own niches.”