Lucye Rafferty/The Hoya Kelsey Shannon

Kelsey Shannon (COL ’04)

President and CEO of Students of Georgetown, Inc. (the Corp)

What’s the hardest part about being president of the Corp?

The hardest part for me is going to be giving it up. I absolutely love the Corp and my position in it, and while I am excited for other people to get this opportunity, I am going to miss it a lot. On a day-to-day basis, the hardest part for me is dealing with the frustration of seeing something that needs to be fixed but being unable to fix it myself.

Why did you want to be president of the Corp?

I had the opportunity to run Vittles last year, which was an amazing learning experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it (except for the 4 a.m. alarm malfunction calls) and knew I wanted to stay involved again this year. While I loved Vittles, I wanted to get to know the Corp better, so I stumbled into this. I couldn’t be happier.

What’s your favorite Corp store?

Watching Hoya Snaxa develop from an empty room to an attractive and functioning store was a special experience. But so was being there for the opening of Midnight Mug’s stage. And watching Vittles go from white to blue overnight because of the work of 30 or so students having a blast doing the work. So, all of them.

What’s your favorite drink at Uncommon Grounds?

While I am there almost daily, I am probably UG’s most boring customer. Coffee with cream, no sugar and a plain bagel with butter. I am pretty addicted to Uncommon Grounds’ coffee.

What changes are you trying to make to the Corp?

We have done a lot this year that we are all very proud of. We just released our first annual report in over a decade, which details our financial successes and failures, our consistent dedication to giving back to Georgetown, and what has changed over the past year. In the next month, we will be advertising Corp Grants, a program co-sponsored by THE HOYA that will encourage students to put forward ideas to improve the community which the Corp will fund. Most of the real, substantive changes that the Corp has needed have been put in place over the past two or three years. Still, there is always stuff that needs work – our customer service has to continue to improve, we need to be more attentive to our customers, we have to keep working on showing the campus community who we are.

What do you see as the future of the Corp?

It is very hard to predict what will happen to the Corp in the future. I suspect that our period of expansion (since 1999, we have opened four stores) is coming to an end. While New South remains the great wild card for everyone, I think our focus now is really on making everything work better. There is no reason the Corp cannot survive for another 30 years, and I am very confident it will. When I come back here in 2034, I am sure the Corp will be a very different business, but the fundamental tenets will remain.

Does the Corp have a distinctive “culture” compared to other campus groups?

Yes and no. In many ways, I think the Corp has a similar culture to organizations like THE HOYA or Mask & Bauble – large, well-run groups with a long history that require a great deal of organization and a massive amount of involvement on the part of those who run them. We love what we are doing here and are great friends, which I think is the biggest part of our culture. I think the individual services have unique cultures distinct from a “Corp culture,” and I think that’s a good thing. It means we have all sorts of different people working towards a common goal.

How do you think student-run organizations are operated differently from adult-run organizations?

We like to come to work and we don’t wear suits. The main challenge to the Corp is not that we’re students – I think that’s a great advantage – it is that we are, except in the summer, mostly part-time employees. So we have had to evolve different institutions that work for us but would not work for a traditional business.

What are some of your favorite activities outside of school?

I am very much the stereotypical Georgetown guy. In no order – I like The Tombs, my girlfriend, the NFL, college basketball, my friends. I am not very good at culture, eating healthy or cleaning my room.