Sisters Emily and Gabby Bacha each held executive Student Senate positions just five years apart.
Leadership is in the genes of the Bacha sisters, Gabby and Emily, who held Student Senate executive positions five years apart at Ohio University.
Gabby, called "Gabe" by her family, is the current president of Student Senate. Emily, who graduated from OU in 2010, served as vice president of senate her senior year.
Both sisters attribute their success in leadership roles to their parents, who pushed them and set an example by taking on prominent positions in their community.
“I think Gabe and I were raised very much so to give back to the communities in which we live and work and play,” Emily said. “Student Senate is one way I was able to do that while I was here.”
The Bacha sisters are first-generation college students who held positions as resident assistants during college in addition to their student government roles.
“Neither of our parents went to college, so they really pushed us throughout our school careers to be good in a lot of areas and involved in a lot of areas, especially academically,” Gabby said. “Having that good pressure helped me focus in and say ‘I need to really, really do a good job. I need to take up leadership roles. I really need to get in line with that.' ”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="e51e11a8-6d66-11e5-ada5-0b2371f83be9"}}
It isn’t the first time the sisters have led a student body. Emily and Gabby both served as student council president in their high school during their senior years, respectively.
The pair was also involved in a variety of identical activities before college, such as swim team and art club.
Gabby said their high school was very small, with Emily's graduating class size being 63 and her own 72.
"The number of activities was a little bit limited, so it kind of made sense that we followed the same path in that sense,” Gabby said.
Though Gabby was only a sophomore in high school when Emily was senate vice president, she listened to her sister’s stories about senate. Gabby said, though she didn't fully understand the resolutions and discussions happening within the body at the time, she developed a desire for the sense of community Emily and her senate friends shared.
“The biggest impact for me was kind of the community they formed and the friendships they formed, and I wanted that,” Gabby said.
She added that her sister’s experiences did influence her decision to join the organization, but finding her “own sense and (her) own self in the organization” was also important.
OU alumnus Jesse Neader, whom Emily mentored as a freshman and who managed her campaign for vice president, agreed that elected leaders should ask for advice, but make the final decision themselves.
“I think one of the great hallmarks of a leader is having people that they can turn to and ask for opinions and help,” Neader said. “But, at the same time, you are elected by a constituency and the people that you surround yourself with aren’t, so it’s really your decision at the end of the day. It’s really important that Gabby has a network of people, not just Emily to ask questions to, but I don’t necessarily think that she has to listen.”
Before she was elected as senate president, Gabby was a South Green senator, like her sister. She said talking to Emily and her friends to get their perspectives on senate events last year encouraged her to pursue involvement in the organization.
“I don’t think I would have continued on all year last year if I didn’t have that connection, to be frank,” Gabby said.
The sisters said that, like many siblings, their relationship wasn’t always as strong as it is today.
“I babysat Gabe a lot growing up, so I was kind of a mom figure in some ways, even though Gabe hated that," Emily said. “We haven’t always gotten along swimmingly, but we’ve gotten along fairly well.”
Neader said the sisters’ personalities compliment each other.
“I think that when Gabby sometimes needs to have a serious talk, Emily is who she turns to, and when Emily sometimes needs to loosen up, Gabby is who she turns to, and I see that working really well,” Neader said.
@mayganbeeler
