It’s Wednesday, and Iowa State student government is holding its meeting. President Cody West, sits in the back of the Memorial Union’s Campanile Room dressed in a gray blazer with a button-down shirt and tan pants. He’s eating his dinner, with a schedule as busy as his there’s no other time to do so. He doesn’t speak often but when he does all eyes are on him and his cabinet listens.

On the other side of the room sits Cody Woodruff, vice speaker and West’s friend. West refers to Woodruff as a 30-year old stuck in a 12-year old’s body. Woodruff voices his concerns about funding an outdoor spring concert, the hot item on tonight’s agenda. Despite this being a key proposal West introduced on his platform when running for president, Woodruff votes against the integration of an outdoor spring concert aimed to create a new tradition at Iowa State. The concert gets funded with a vote of 27-3-0.

Woodruff met West the fall of his freshman year when he joined student government. One of their first interactions was at Starbucks when West ran Woodruff through why he wanted to run for student government president explaining that “it was all about the students.”

“He had a platform that seemed very geared towards the students and had a good pulse on the student body. He’d been here long enough and understood what Iowa State needed,” Woodruff said.

Woodruff ended up working on West’s campaign, and the two became great friends.

But when Woodruff first met West he thought he was intimidating. He later learned West is actually down to earth and a goofball. One of their first times hanging out was at Parks Library during a study session with a few other friends. Woodruff found out that West was “very good vocally” as he sang tunes with his friends. West was there with his girlfriend, Randi Hahn, which Woodruff claims made West more at ease with the group. West was a different character then Woodruff had seen during Senate meetings gavel in hand. “There was a song that came on and we all rapped it together and [West and I] turned to each other and were equally impressed that the other Cody knew the lyrics somehow.”

Woodruff describes West as being “a hoot” and “hilarious,” referring back to a game they played at a student government retreat at the Y Camp in Boone. The card game revolved around showing cards to decide who was most likely to or least likely to fit a description on the back of a card.

Rachael Barnes, senior director of student services, who originally ran against the West and Smith campaign, became friends with West throughout their opposing campaigns and later as they both served on the executive branch together.

The two went to the Big 12 Student Government conference with a few other members of the Iowa State Senate. Over the span of a 15-hour road trip to Texas for the conference the two got to know each better.

“For anyone that’s been on road trips that’s where you get to know people really well,” Barnes said.

Barnes recalls the drive down to Texas and being impressed with learning how West balances all aspects of his life. While Barnes still had homework to do during the drive, West finished his homework for the next two weeks. On the drive the two also talked about their majors and about West waiting to hear back from medical schools.

“We’ve always connected a lot on that we care a lot about the leadership positions we hold but also our majors,” Barnes said.

West majors in biology and hopes to attend medical school in the Midwest. West considers himself an “oddball” when it comes to liking hard science and choosing biology as a major considering his mom works in insurance and his dad sells tires.

At a young age West wanted to be a veterinarian but has since transitioned into wanting to be in the medical field helping people instead. Eventually however West also wants to go into government or higher education, so he can work at an institution like Iowa State again.

“I think his ability to relate to all kinds of people will carry him no matter what he does if he chooses to go to something in his field or chooses to go down a different path. I do think he will be very successful; he’s a very hard worker,” Elizabeth Kurt, West’s former boss said.

Kurt, Iowa State’s director of new student programs, worked with West between January 2016 – January 2017 when he was a Cyclone Aide. During that time West was very dependable, genuine with new students and families and displayed a maturity that allowed him to do his job showing people around campus for orientation.

West met Hahn, a fellow Cyclone Aide, within his first month with that program. They recently celebrated their one-year anniversary. When Hahn first met West, she thought it seemed like West knew everyone in the room and was friendly with everyone.

“He’s so dedicated to representing the entire student body in the best way he can,” Hahn said. “He’s so responsible with maintaining the communication with the higher up people at Iowa State to make sure that things are getting done and he’s advocating for students and making sure he’s doing the best job that he can in his year as president,” Hahn said.

This could mean that whenever the two are hanging out, West may be answering emails in his never-empty inbox.

“One thing that I always try do is Saturday’s I ignore my laptop. Obviously if something happens I have to address it. If I can I try to get away from everything on the weekends,” West said. “If I can find just one day to focus on the people that support me. The fact of it is you have to make time for those people.”

West’s genuine concern for people and thoughtfulness doesn’t go unnoticed. Cody Smith, West’s right-hand man as vide president for student government, recalls during their freshman and sophomore year having Easter together with both of their families at West’s house.

When Smith had trouble with a lease gap, West was the first to help him and offer that he stay with his parents in Altoona.

“He’s a very caring person. He’s always willing to offer his assistance where he can. He’s always willing to try and cheer people up, too. If we have a long day or something and you see him in the hallway, since the moment I met him, being like ‘hey, how’s it going?’ he’s always making sure to ask how people are. Maybe that’s the inner future doctor in him, I don’t know,” Smith said.

Teri King, West’s mother, considers West to be very caring towards people.

“He’s always very concerned about me. He always is concerned about am I going to be ok. If he gets into the University of Iowa am I going to be okay with him being that far away. He’s always more concerned about myself than he is himself. He worries about me. He just very concerned about his friends and his family,” King said.

King remembers West being “the organizer” with his friends when he was younger.

“When he was little he’d be the organizer if his friends were going to do something. He’d be like ‘this is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to do it,’” King said.

In high school, West was selected to go to Washington, D.C., to attend a weeklong leadership conference. He was also on student council in high school and was junior class president.

“Cody’s very good about putting himself out there. When he was in high school and he told me that he was going to run for student president or class president or whatever his senior year, I was like, ‘Oh, don’t be disappointed if you don’t get it,’ because I didn’t realize how much kids and people think of Cody,” King said.

Not only is West keeping up his grades with the 16 credits he’s taking this fall studying biology, he’s also applying to medical schools maintaining relationships with friends in and out of Student Government and serving as Iowa State’s Student Government President. “He’s very strict on how he applies himself to things and if he’s going to do something he makes sure it’s done. If he does something he’s going to get it done well. If he decides that it’s something that he wants to take on he’s going to have all the different areas covered, he’s going to make sure all of the appropriate things have been done. He’s very thorough in his work,” Smith said.