Who wouldn’t want to be like Junior Zachary Enriquez? He is an accomplished model of success and excels in his positions of RA,  campus ministry retreat leader, and Damen as a staff member. Uncovering Loyola got the opportunity to hold a Q&A with him to find out just how he does it all.

Q: Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us some of the ways you have been involved during your time here at Loyola?

ZACHARY: “My name is Zachary Enriquez. I am a junior and an Ad/PR major and a marketing minor. I am a first-generation student.

There are quite a few ways I’ve been involved. I am an RA, an undergraduate research fellow at the Center for Urban Research and Learning on campus, a student in the interdisciplinary honors program, I’m an Information Services staff member at Damen and I’m also a campus ministry retreat leader. I was also on the National Residence Hall Honorary.”

Q: When did you start getting involved and what made you want to get involved on campus?

ZACHARY: “I definitely started to get involved [during] my second year. It started with becoming an RA at the end of my first year when I got hired. That was kind of the first step. I think a lot of the motivation for that was because I was a commuter and I felt like I was missing out on a lot of stuff. So, I became an RA, and once I was living on campus in my second year was when I became exposed to a lot more things.”

Q: How has your involvement changed how you feel about Loyola and your time here?

ZACHARY: “It was pretty good. My first year, all I really did here was ‘school’. I would come to class and go home to work. My understanding of Loyola was pretty limited. I’ve had a pretty good experience with my academics here. Other than that, it was good but I felt really disconnected from people and that might have shaped how I looked at Loyola as a community.

Once I started becoming more involved, I realized that there is so much more than just school. I feel like there is a club or an organization that kind of plays to every niche. If you look hard enough, it’s there.”

Q: What makes you a Student Leader?

ZACHARY: “There is this idea or concept of what servant leadership is. It’s essentially the fact that you’re a leader because you’re serving others. That’s your purpose as a leader. For me, that’s what being a student leader is. You are still amongst students, amongst your peers but you are serving in this role to serve them. The biggest thing is utilizing your position, your privilege–whatever it may be–to help others. I think that if you can find fulfillment in that, you can feel good about what you’re doing and it helps you as well.”

Q: What advice would you have for students about involvement on campus and making Loyola their home?
ZACHARY: “Talk to people. Ask questions. Step outside of your comfort zone. Make yourself more available to the messages that a lot of RAs, a lot of student leaders, a lot of faculty members are trying to send to students–that there is a place for you. There’s a place for you to get deeper than your degree. Start reaching out. There are so many resources. Your RA is one, a professor is one. I don’t think there is anyone who works for this university who isn’t going to be willing to talk to you about pretty much anything.”  

Want to know more about getting involved? Reach out to us on Twitter @UncoveringLUC or send us an email at uncoveringloyola@gmail.com!