K'mari PeedeSha’Lexus Sanders was announced N.C. Central University’s 83rd student body president, making her the 11th woman to hold the position on March 21. She said she had always known she was destined to be a voice for the people, and this is just the beginning of her story.
“I knew I wanted to be an activist when I was about eleven or twelve,” Sanders said. “I wanted to be a young Angela Davis. I just felt my passion in advocating for others, making sure that their voices are heard on the ballot.”
She comes from an “interesting” childhood, growing up in both Salisbury and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“In my childhood, I was exposed to a lot of things at a younger age,” she said. “And being the oldest out of three, I had to grow up a little early to protect them from everything.”
She added that she believed where and how she grew up made her the person she is today. It also inspired her campaign platform, G.R.O.W.T.H.
G.R.O.W.T.H. stands for guidance, representation, outreach, wellness, tenacity and harmony. Sanders settled on this idea to tell her story from her freshman year to where she is now. She started as a student who wasn’t very involved on campus and rarely went out. But now, it’s hard for her to stay in one place.
“I was the student who got herself into things she shouldn’t have, and was not involved on campus. I was just that student who didn’t care,” she said. “Now, it’s like I can’t even stay in my room. God put me in these places because he knows I’m destined for greatness.”
Before becoming SGA president, Sanders held multiple leadership and advocacy roles. Towards the end of her freshman year, she became an intercultural leader, then an assistant director of Political Action and Community Engagement (P.A.C.E.) and a civic engagement working navigator in her sophomore year.
She is currently a representative for the N.C. Black Alliance, director of P.A.C.E., ambassador for the civic engagement working group, president of Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society, community service chair of the National Society of Leadership and Success, and career education mentor.
Her G.R.O.W.T.H. platform will influence her plans for this upcoming school year.
“I want to create a new NCCU where everyone feels supported and feels like an actual family,” Sanders said. “I believe we say this is a family environment, but then we get complaints on Fizz or that students feel no one is backing them.”
She said she promised to work hard and advocate for every pressing student concern, but also wants students to give this new administration grace. She wants NCCU to know that SGA and the Royal Court are here to serve the student body.
“We’re here to do what we need to do and go up beyond that while we’re doing it,” she said. “We’re going to make sure y’all are heard, and it’s gonna be some change happening on this campus.”
