Beyond his presidency, which makes him one of the most visible faces on campus, Park is known for his friendly nature. "I met Ryan on my freshman orientation trip. He was really friendly and fun-loving, and he still is, though I think he's matured considerably over the last four years," said Amrit Amirapu '05. AAS Treasurer Ian Shin '06 added, "I like his personality; I think that's a really big part of what makes him a good student body president and everything else he does. He's a fun guy to be around."
A double major in economics and political science, Park considers his relationships with professors to be the most meaningful aspect of his academic career at the College. He particularly values his relationships with Associate Professor of Political Science Javier Corrales and Assistant Professor of Economics Jessica Reyes. "Not only did they challenge and inspire me intellectually, but I really care about them as people and I hope they feel the same," Park said. "I think that's the distinctive thing about academics at Amherst. You can develop these really intimate relationships with the great minds you are studying under."
"Ryan is a dream student," said Professor Corrales. "He is smarter than most of his peers. His leadership accomplishments are absolutely astonishing. He has an unusually gentle and easy-going personality that is rare among such accomplished human beings."
The demands of his commitment to the AAS left Park little time to become involved with other organizations, but he writes occasionally for school publications and sang in the a cappella group Route 9 for three years. "That was an amazing experience, especially because at the beginning of my time here the group was really just starting to come together. It was started by a couple people who were juniors when I was a freshman," he said. "That was a really cool experience for me: building and constructing a legacy for a group that will hopefully be around for a long time."
Park had to leave the group his junior year. "My life while I was president of the AAS and in Route 9 was a little bit too hectic, but I'll always look back fondly on my a cappella days," he said. Park explained that he explored different organizations as a first-year. "But once I found what I really wanted to devote my time to, which was the AAS, all those other commitments kind of dropped away."
A genuine leader
Nearly every mention of Park relates to his work on the AAS. His presidency is characterized as one of sincerity by those who have worked with him on the senate. "Too often campus politics brings to mind the specter of a smarmy would-be politician, and Ryan is emphatically not one of those," said Scherr. Shin noted, "I think one of the things that is really important about Ryan Park and his being AAS president is that he cares a lot about the student body and he's not afraid to speak up for the student body. ... That's something I really admire about him."
This sense of genuineness comprises a large portion of Park's successful presidency. "Ryan's sincerity and honesty have been essential to giving the student government a respectable reputation among the faculty and administration that we deal with on a week to week basis as we try to improve student life here at Amherst," said Scherr. "Without his persistence and persuasive manner, I believe that we would not have seen as much progress as we have."
Park's relationships with faculty and administrators have allowed him to effectively represent student interests at the College. "I also believe that if it weren't for the trust and esteem in which high-ranking administrators hold Ryan, we would not have been able to achieve some of the smaller, quality-of-life issues that concern students," noted Scherr.
Shin added that Park's successful relationships with the Senate and the student body made for effective leadership as well. "I think it takes a lot of trust from students to be a good student body president and people did like him," he said. "Whatever people's positions were on issues you could always count on Ryan to be a 'nice person' so that other people would be able to work with him. Building bridges on a campus where there are numerous Type A personalities is a hard thing to do and I think he did it well."
Impact on Amherst
Among Park's many accomplishments as president are the New York Times Program in Valentine, which he initially worked on with his friend Allison Rung '05; securing Direct Deposit for student employees; aiding the effort to block construction of a parking lot in the Bird Sanctuary; creating an Honor Code; working to improve Amherst's advising and Interterm programs, the former by reintroducing peer-advising in Scrutiny and the latter through work on an ad hoc committee chaired by Dean of Students Ben Lieber. Scherr said that Park worked to represent a wide range of issues concerning the student body. "In everything from academic honesty to student parking, Ryan has tenaciously and effectively promoted the student interest to all facets of the Amherst administration," said Scherr.
Shin noted that Park's experience was also crucial to his effectiveness as president. "I think he's done some great things over the course of his two and a half years. The best of which I think is getting Scrutiny back this year," said Shin. "He's also done a lot of different work exploring issues such as advising, which are things that really take experience to understand ... He had the experience, so I think he was able to be effective in that role as the president."
Though he has a high profile on campus, many of Park's achievements remain unrecognized. "Although his numerous accomplishments have not always been as visible to the student body as they should be (a publicity problem that lies with student government generally, not Ryan personally) he has indeed done much as president," said Scherr.
To Park, his work with Lieber and Associate Professor of Philosophy Joseph Moore to institute the Honor Code at the College is his biggest accomplishment. "In fact I think it was Ryan and a handful of other students who first developed the idea of the Honor Code and suggested it for the College's consideration," said Lieber. "His speech to the faculty was one of the most persuasive elements of the case that the College Council presented for it, and I think it swayed faculty opinion considerably and helped very much to pass the Honor Code." The Honor Code provided a heightened awareness of the issue of cheating on campus. "That is a legacy that will far outlast his time on this campus," said Scherr.
For Park, his presidency has largely defined his Amherst experience. "It's been personally incredibly gratifying. I have put a lot of my heart and soul into it, which is kind of sad in some ways, [laughs] but it has been such an amazing experience in which I have grown so much as a person," he confessed. Added Scherr, "I served as vice-president along side Ryan this past year, and I say without any reservation that Ryan Park has been a truly excellent president."
Park cited numerous ways in which the AAS has influenced his Amherst experience. "It, along with the recent presidential election sparked an interest in politics that I didn't necessarily have before," he said. "It gave me the sense that if you can use the political process to actually improve things in this community, maybe you can do it in the real world too."
On a personal level, Park said that he gained a sense of organization and discipline as a student and in general after he was elected. Feeling a sense of accountability as president, Park said, "It's kind of funny, after I was elected I would be at a party or something, and would feel like I had a responsibility to be a little more upstanding than I would be otherwise ... People like to make a big joke of it but [being president] infused in me a sense of duty and responsibility to the community."
Lieber added, "I think Ryan is a serious guy. He takes his responsibilities very seriously and is very thoughtful about them. I don't think he leaps to conclusions; he takes time to think about things, and in general he is one of the most mature student leaders I've worked with in my years at Amherst."
A future of possibility
Park has deferred acceptance to a graduate program in Social Policy and Planning at the London School of Economics in order to accept a job at the United States Department of Justice in the anti-trust division where he plans to work for a year after graduation. "[It] is cool because it allows me to bridge my interests in law, politics and economics and hopefully get some relevant experience in all three of these fields before I have to decide which one I want to ultimately pursue," he said.
As for the future, this is as far as Park has planned. "Beyond that I'm not really sure. Everyone always assumes because of what I've done here [in the AAS] that I am wedded to the idea of going into politics myself," he said. "But, in some ways, that's kind of silly. I don't think that everyone who spends their time playing basketball here wants to be a basketball coach." Park added that although he would like to be somehow involved in politics, he probably does not want to ever again be a candidate for elected public office.
"I guess most people know me as that dorky AAS guy, but most of my best memories from college are of just pulling stupid stunts with my friends," he said. Reflecting on his most memorable moment from his four years at the College, Park said, "There's so many and a lot are packed into the first semester of freshman year. I don't think I understood at the time how incredibly special that time was." Recalling a snowball fight between the residents of James and Stearns Halls during his freshman year that occurred after Screw Your Roommate TAP, Park remembered that "[It was] this spontaneous eruption of glee between dozens of kids who were just starting to carve out a place for themselves at this college." He added, "It was a special moment because it seemed like everything in life was coming together for me and I think it was then when I really realized how happy I was going to be here, that these last four years were going to be as amazing as they were.