News > November 13, 2008

By Brianna Pellicane | Contributing writer

Last week you got to know a little bit about Jermyn Davis. Here’s even more. More exciting than being president Another one of Davis’ residents passes by. He stands up and waves. “Where are you going?” he called loud enough to be heard through the glass.

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Who would have thought a transfer from Juilliard would become university student body president and major in Chinese and political science. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

For Davis, being a resident advisor is “probably the most exciting thing.”

“I mean, I enjoy being SG president a lot,” he said.

“They’re going to get mad if they read this, but I kind of see (my residents) as, like, my little brothers.”

He went on to explain why they were “so cool.”

“Each one of their needs is different,” he said.

Late September, Davis helped one resident, Josh Weinflash, contact other Jewish students on campus so he could take part in a Rosh Hashanah dinner, something Weinflash had always participated in at home.

“Jermyn always tries to reach out to everyone,” Weinflash said. Davis plays Halo with the residents, debates politics and somehow finds time in his busy schedule as president to attend the residents’ intramural rugby and football games. He welcomes the change of pace.

“It’s almost refreshing,” he said. “They don’t care if I just got out of a meeting with Dr. Hatch ... They’re like ‘Jermyn, I want some food. I want Cook-Out. Let’s go.’ It’s humbling. Kind of like having kids. I mean, I’ve never had any. But they don’t really care about the world outside; they only care about what’s going on now. You know what I mean?”

Weinflash said the residents are “definitely aware” that their RA is president.

While riding on a campus shuttle to a football game recently, “I teased Jermyn if Student Government refused to fund Air Force One for the fall semester,” he said.

Leading Humbly

Davis’ residents, all freshmen, were not even at Wake during his landslide victory last spring – the victory he said he had no idea he was going to win.

Senior Sarah Walker, Student Government treasurer for two terms, was an experienced opponent. Davis explained how the numbers didn’t register with him at first, and then paused.

“It was kind of intimidating,” he said. “Seventy-seven percent (felt) confident in me that I would do the best job, so therefore, I can’t let 77 percent of people down. Whereas, the other 23 percent of people, I see they didn’t like something that I was doing … I want to prove that I was the right choice.”

Aside from the large margin of victory, something else makes Davis’ presidency unique: he was a sophomore on Election Day.

“Other presidents, who have been seniors in the past … when they decide something, the next year, they’re not going to be here,” he said.

“I’m going to be here. And say things don’t go right. I have to live with people maybe saying, ‘You know, Jermyn, you sucked last year.’”

He said his goal is for people to say, “Jermyn, you were so good. We want you to be president again,” at the end of the year.

“So many people in institutionalized settings complain because they think they can’t really do anything,” he said. “To me, there’s so much … that can be done.”

And Davis certainly works hard.

Under Davis’ leadership, Student Government has changed the Pit operating hours, expanded the meal plan, challenged the university’s Dean List decision and organized student forums, among other initiatives, all since the beginning of the semester.“I often find myself telling Jermyn to slow down and get some rest,” Matt Triplett, Student Government speaker of the house, said.

Davis said that despite his Student Government responsibilities, he remains a student first.

“I have to think all the time, ‘You’re still a student before anything,’” Davis said.

“You can’t effectively think of students if you don’t think of yourself as a student.”

A different kind of tune

It’s this awareness of others that has not only made Davis an effective president and resident advisor, but an effective classmate.

Louis Goldstein, professor of music and Davis’ First Year Seminar instructor, described Davis as “the type of student who can singlehandedly elevate a class.”

“He spoke so readily that members of the class who might in other circumstances have required prompting … quickly joined,” he said. “(Davis) was constantly listening and watching for ways to engage other students and bring them into the conversation.”

More evidence of Davis’ leadership: When he and Triplett were on Wake’s Alternative Spring Break trip in New Orleans last March to offer relief to Hurricane Katrina survivors, Davis led the entire van in song as he drove to dinner.

“Our group had gotten pretty depressed because of some particular circumstances … we weren’t able to do all the sort of volunteer work that we had hoped,” Triplett said. “Jermyn took the … initiative to make our entire volunteer group feel better by being such a dynamic personality.”

Despite that dynamic personality and an important title, Davis just wants to be … Jermyn.