Board of Trustees
Harold Pettigrew discusses how meeting with the NC State University Board of Trustees as the Student Body President prepared him for his future.
Interview on 2012-11-02 00:00:00 -0400
Transcript
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So, the most critical thing that came out of my experience at State, at twenty-seven I was chief of staff;
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at thirty I was a licensing administrator; and now at thirty-three-I started at thirty-two-as director for Small Business Development.
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I serve on the mayor's cabinet. I think conclusively I'm the youngest cabinet member. The experience at State,
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specifically through the student leadership involvement, I think was the biggest preparation for what I'm doing right now.
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To be able to be a member of the board of trustees at the time, knowing that I'm sitting around the table with some
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of the richest and most influential people in the state and that as a student, and as every student who serves on the board of trustees,
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you have to come and represent not only yourself but the campus community in such a way where you're not certainly making a fool of yourself,
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you're not presenting just student passionate arguments, but that you're presenting rational perspectives, that you're well read, that you're informed,
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and quite frankly can speak at the level and caliber that the rest of the trustees are able to. That was an early experience
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that I think has almost subconsciously prepared me for the very wonderful opportunities I've had in Washington, DC, certainly with maturity,
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being able to sit at the table and have very great discussions with, like I said, some of the most influential and richest folks at the time in the state.
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That was the biggest thing, really expanding my perspective and deepening my maturity to be able to have that type of involvement,
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which has translated into much of the involvement I have now with cabinet members, the mayor, and everybody else who are twice my age.
This video is an excerpt from a longer interview. Contact the Special Collections Research Center to request the transcript of the full interview.
