Free food, meetings fill a day for Brian Kelly

He’s big. He’s bad. He’s the Student Government Board president.

Two Pitt News writers… He’s big. He’s bad. He’s the Student Government Board president.

Two Pitt News writers spent time tagging along with Brian Kelly on March 26, to find out what the big man on campus does all day. We started our day with Kelly at 8:15 a.m., when he briskly strode into SGB headquarters on the 6th floor of the William Pitt Union. Kelly apologized for being late, as he was up late studying and he slept through his alarm.

An SGB planning session occupied the first place on the agenda. Sitting at the head of a rectangular table, Kelly listened to the opinions of the board as they discussed current issues. The debate became rather heated when members began discussing controversial topics, such as the decision to cut some funding for the United States Student Association.

Tensions lightened when the board began talking about getting free food for later in the day.

At 10:01 a.m., we escorted Kelly back to his office. Kelly informed The Pitt News that a former SGB president once proposed getting the Pitt emblem imposed on the rug of the SGB office, in a style similar to the President’s seal in the Oval Office.

The request was rejected.

Though small, Kelly’s office is impressively equipped, complete with a stereo, which Kelly makes use of during his down time.

After an hour of discussing Kelly’s past involvement in student groups like the Blue and Gold Society, we followed Kelly to his favorite class: Portuguese, at 11:00 a.m. Ana Paula Carvalho, his professor for the class, is Kelly’s favorite teacher — he waited until second semester to take Portuguese 2 so that he could be in her class.

“Who dances well?” Carvelho asked in Portuguese, with Kelly interpreting as his professor danced around the room, naming the various dancing styles.

Instructed to complete an exercise, Kelly opened his book.

“I want to go to Brazil,” he said, pointing to a picture of a magnificent mountainside in his book.

After class, Kelly and The Pitt News writers were famished. Luckily, we were scheduled for a free lunch in the WPU Ballroom that featured diverse food from local restaurants. The lunch was held in celebration of Diversity Week. Kelly put his size XXL Diversity T-shirt on over his button-up shirt before digging into the free food.

As we ate our international cuisine, Kelly’s intern, Rebekah Bambling, discussed her internship.

“Who better than SGB president to intern with?” Bambling asked, explaining that she helps keep Kelly organized.

“He really lacks organizational skills,” she said.

Kelly did not deny the usefulness of her assistance.

“My office is really messy,” he admitted.

But Bambling didn’t place all the blame on Kelly.

“He just doesn’t have time for all of it,” she said.

After lunch, we stopped by the Pitt Program Council art show in the Union to visit Mike Kelly, Brian Kelly’s old roommate. The two are not related.

“He’s a lot of fun to live with,” Mike Kelly said. “We always had fun. There was never a dull moment. We partied like freshmen all sophomore year.”

Shira Figelstien, a former SGB member, stopped by with a baby she was taking care of for the afternoon. Kelly instantly began playing with the infant.

“He’s good with kids, ladies, I promise” Figelstien said.

Next, The Pitt News accompanied Kelly to the South Side to look at an apartment he was considering for his residency next year. Tired of the perpetual smell of beer in South Oakland, Kelly said he was contemplating the benefits of living across the river. After all, he does have his own free parking space on campus.

When he returned from apartment shopping, Kelly fielded more questions from The Pitt News. We asked Kelly who he would most want to see featured in another “A Day in the Life of” article.

After much consideration, Kelly answered, “Jaron Brown.”

The Pitt News spent time getting to know more about what it’s like to be the SGB president.

“I have time,” said Kelly. “It’s not like there is always something going on. I still go out a lot.”

Kelly encouraged students to become more involved in student government.

“There is nothing that makes me [happier] than [when] a person who has never gotten involved, comes up and gets involved.”

“I don’t think students realize we have power,” he added. “We have money. We have [about] $800,000.”

“When you’re in class 15 hours a week, you still have 25 extra hours. It’s not like college kids do 25 hours worth of homework.” Kelly said, responding to the common excuse of lack of time that many students give.

Kelly told The Pitt News that he has met a lot of people through his experiences with student involvement.

“I walk around campus and I feel like I’m in my house,” he said.

At 7:00 p.m., Kelly attended a Greek Week meeting for Greek Sing. In addition to his involvement with SGB, Kelly is also a Lambda Chi Alpha brother.

But the meeting did not mark the end of Kelly’s day. After the meeting, Kelly cleaned up with more free food at a dinner welcoming the Declaration of Independence to campus. After enjoying coconut-covered shrimp and gourmet desserts, Kelly was prepared to end his day with an allocations meeting. Wrapping up after midnight, Kelly was finally ready to go to sleep, so he could be prepared for another day.

–Senior Staff Writer Nikki Schwab contributed to this story