His office is covered with fliers from an assortment of events, thank you notes from a variety of student organizations and a plethora of important looking papers. He walked in with a navy polo and khakis, raised his chair “to make him feel like a president,” plopped his feet on a table and said, “What’s up?”
His name is Ethan Flynn and he is the face of the Student Government Association.
Upon taking office as SGA president, Flynn, 21, made a vow to improve the SGA and its members. “This year, SGA is saying, ‘We’re not afraid to be your voice’ and that is so powerful,” Flynn said.
A senior, economics major from Johnson City, Flynn is the big man on campus. You can often see him in the Culp Center, at numerous campus events and congregating with other students in between classes. Flynn is very passionate about ETSU and about his role as SGA president.
Although he appears calm and collected, he can often be seen fighting for other students. “I am an extremely passionate person,” he said. “I also find that I am empathetic to people’s issues. By taking on the role of the SGA president, I am now taking on the issues for other students.”
Flynn was never involved in extracurricular activities in high school, but started becoming involved in campus organizations in his sophomore year. “Even though I was never involved, I feel like this office fits me,” he said. “I have always had an opinion, and I’m not afraid to tell people. I was one of those troublemakers in high school.”
Since becoming involved in SGA, Flynn has served as a senator and also as the chair for the 606 Allocations Committee, which distributes money to different student organizations to better campus life.
Flynn originally ran for SGA president in 2003, but was defeated by Jarrod Suits. He then came back fighting in 2004 to win the presidency. “Running for president last year was a significant learning experience,” Flynn said. “Not only did I learn about myself, but I learned what people deal with and the election dynamics in general. Also, I learned that you cannot take anything for granted.”
Flynn has a vision of change, and with his lead, he and his executive cabinet have a long to-do list. Many tasks have been checked off the list, but Flynn says there is much more to be done. “Since I have been in office, I have learned that the administration is desperate for student input and their way of getting that input is through the SGA,” he said. “SGA hasn’t been faithful about student representation and their commitment in the past. But, we have made it a priority to have good student representation on several committees this year.”
With SGA Vice President Brian McCormack and SGA Secretary Aya Fukuda by his side, he feels like SGA is starting to live up to their promises, Flynn said. “Last year, Brian, Aya and I ran on trying to get books in the library,” he said. “At this point, we are working to conduct a survey to see how many student use their textbooks, what do they pay, and if they would use textbooks that were available to them in the library. We’re not there yet, but we are working on it.”
Fukuda, a longtime friend of Flynn, praises how he has put his heart and soul into SGA. “Ethan is a hard-working, caring guy who truly wants to make students the priority at ETSU,” she said. “He is not afraid to voice any opinions of the students to the administration.”
In his senior year, Flynn has drenched himself in SGA and is striving to make this year a foundation year. He is just a guy who always believes in doing the right thing. He is someone who prays often, gives back to the community and treats others as he wishes to be treated. He attributes his character to the way he has been raised and his values.
Flynn constantly refers to the Bible for direction and inspiration. 2 Corinthians 4:18 which says, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever,” is a verse that has given him guidance lately within his everyday life and as a student leader, Flynn said.
“Thinking about what it takes to be an effective leader, a lot of times we get goal-oriented, which is a good thing, but a lot of times you can accomplish goals by making relationships with people,” Flynn said. “By making people more important then you accomplish things out of that. Basically, we live in a society that is attain your goal at every cost, and that is unfulfilling so I want to accomplish something by working with others. By relationships and friendships. It is not so much about what you accomplish as it is about who you do it with.”
Flynn’s colleagues are impressed by his integrity and open heart. “Ethan is probably the most well-rounded person I know,” said J.R. Husmillo, the outgoing, witty guy who serves as SGA chief justice and lifelong friend of Flynn. “He is not only a person who likes to have fun and joke around, but can also be serious and get the job done when needed.”
Even though the office of SGA president has been a challenging one, Flynn feels like he is learning a lot. “Now I have a Cabinet of six members that I manage,” Flynn said. “They come to me and I have to give them a vision, a direction to go, and I have to keep them accountable. I am learning how to manage people and to motivate them. Also, I am slowly but surely learning how to be organized.”
This semester, Flynn is juggling 18 hours of senior courses and the responsibility of SGA president. Although it is difficult to manage, he seems to do a good job of balancing his schedule and even has time for a social life. Flynn keeps a folder for SGA meeting announcements and a palm pilot to help him in the task of being organized.
“The first two weeks of school, I was so overwhelmed with SGA,” Flynn said. “It was like you need to be at this, speak at this, we need a letter for this, and I just couldn’t see it all. You know when you just cannot lay it all out and put it into place and it becomes this big monster that you can’t do?”
When faced with tough questions, he often seeks advice from a variety of people, including his roommate, McCormack, Dr. Sally Lee, SGA adviser, and his dad. “Also, I run and running is like my escape,” Flynn said. “It lets me digest everything that is going on, step back from it and see how to deal with it.”
Even though running is his main time to ponder life and his busy schedule, Flynn also uses past learning experiences to guide him.
Recently, Flynn, McCormack and Fukuda attended a leadership conference in Washington, D.C. At that conference, Flynn received some moving advice from other leaders from all over the world.
“John Rolf was the SGA president at Baylor University and graduated in 2001 and he said to me, ‘I got fall break for my school, but do you think that anyone is going to remember that I was the one who did that for them? No. They are going to remember how I treated them,’ ” Flynn said. “That is so powerful because students are the ones that elected me, and it only matters how I treat them.”
The wheels of change are spinning at ETSU and Ethan Flynn is determined to be in the driver’s seat.

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