By: Journalist Olivia Kopang (OSU)
Rep. Faith Gregory (SWOSU) is looking to make change. Currently running for Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, Faith has big ideas and contributions she would make if elected.
Before attending Southwestern Oklahoma State University, she started her freshman year at Oklahoma Baptist University. During her spring semester, she heard about OIL and decided to see if it interested her. Immediately, she was hooked.
During her first session in the spring, she presented the freshman house bill and won second runner-up best house freshman. These accomplishments only made her already growing passion for the legislative process multiply.
After transferring to SWOSU and finding out that the university didn’t have an OIL delegation, she did what any passionate young leader would – she started her own. She expressed how difficult it was to start a delegation from the ground up.
“It was really difficult the first semester, for sure,” Rep. Gregory said. “I could not get anybody to come to the meeting, and much less stay after the first meeting.”
However, she didn’t give up there.
Although, at first, she didn’t have a lot of students attending OIL meetings, the students she did have were hard-working and dedicated. A delegate named Philip Stewart, who was her membership chair and filled in as vice-chair, helped recruit four members. Gregory was able to recruit two, which created a delegation of seven, who are currently competing in the OIL competition.
Gregory also expressed sympathy for an issue she cares deeply about and something she hopes to see change someday in Oklahoma.
“I think that, especially with Oklahoma living in poverty, people are struggling just to feed themselves,” Rep. Gregory said. “College students, adults, and people who are working three jobs and still can’t afford their apartments. We should be able to come together as a state and as a community to help these people, but we are failing them. I really hope in the future we can do more and to see them more as a person.
“So many bad things happen to these people, where it is not their choice that they’re homeless. Because of the homelessness, they fall into addiction, but it’s not necessarily the addiction that makes them fall into homelessness.”
Rep. Gregory is not only passionate about OIL as a whole and hoping to lead it well if given the opportunity, but also about issues that affect so many citizens in Oklahoma. A passion that has fostered her love of leadership and service.