Meet Alex Shuron, this year’s RIT Student Government president

Growing up in the Syracuse, N.Y., suburb of Camillus, Alex Shuron decided to attend RIT because it was close to home yet far enough to have some independence, and because it has a strong co-op program.

But during his first semester, he admits he wasn’t very involved on campus, and he seriously considered leaving. He explored some clubs and found his niche in Greek life, eventually becoming president of Sigma Chi fraternity on campus. He also served as vice president of RIT’s Interfraternity Council during his second year.

“Staying at RIT was probably the best decision I ever made in my life,” Shuron said. “Some of the students I’ve met here are my best friends. RIT students and the community are just amazing.”

Shuron, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, was elected this year’s Student Government president. His involvement in Student Government began just last year, when he joined as a cabinet member, serving as director of operations.

“Student Government was always something I was interested in, so on a whim, I decided to submit an application,” he said. He joined simply to try to learn more about how it worked, and the shared governance on campus. But by talking with other cabinet members, he learned so much more about their interests and the RIT community.

“The experience was really cool. In Student Government, there is a lot of intersectionality between the organization and general campus life,” he said. “Pretty much everyone in Student Government is involved in another student organization, so you get to learn about more of the communities at RIT. It’s awesome to have an impact on the rest of the student body.”

Shuron and his vice president, Sophia Pries, a fourth-year new media design major from Pittsburgh, have some priorities this year:

• Transparency. “We’re going to be talking to students, understanding what their issues are,” Shuron said. “We want to help students advocate for themselves as a community. There’s a general misconception that Student Government doesn’t do too much. I want students to see us working day to day, making Student Government more accessible. And providing a more accessible route to make their voices heard is something we want to push.”
• Extending the period for adding or dropping a class, which is now seven days after the first class. “It’s definitely an issue for students,” Shuron said. “There’s not enough time to find out whether the class is a good fit for them, and it sometimes delays their graduation. That’s definitely a campuswide issue and we’re going to be comparing data with other schools.”
• Paw Prints, the student petitioning website Student Government maintains, has its 10-year anniversary this year, and he’d like to see it updated and used more frequently. Any student may log in and create a petition, and if the petition reaches 200 signatures, Student Government is required to bring it to the student senate for further action.

Shuron spent the summer working at an advanced technology engineering co-op with Toyota in Georgetown, Ky. He’s also serving on the committee to select the next president of RIT, who will begin after current president David Munson retires on June 30, 2025.

And he is active nationally with Sigma Chi, elected as one of two undergraduate representatives, serving 260,000 students and alumni around the world.

In his spare time, Shuron likes to support movie theaters as much as possible. And couple of days each summer, he goes to Brennan’s Beach on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, near Pulaski, where his grandfather has a campsite.

“I’ve been collecting sea glass there since I was a kid,” he said.

He encourages all new RIT Tigers to explore the many options of recreational clubs and activities, and find their own niche, like he did. They may just find themselves Student Government president one day.

“Running for Student Government president was definitely something I never thought about,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity, and I think it’s going to be fun. I hope I can inspire some people to get involved in Student Government, and leave the campus a better place than I found it.”