Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: News

Conner Prochaska went to the same hot dog stand for several weeks in a row while in Washington, D.C., last summer, said senior biology major Chris Venegas, one of Prochaska's campaign managers. The vendor was wearing a Longhorn hat, and Prochaska offered to buy the woman a new hat or he would have to stop coming there. The woman agreed to never wear the hat again.

Venegas said this is just one example of how serious Prochaska is about Texas A&M.

Prochaska's family and friends describe him as one of the most genuine, driven and committed people they know.

Prochaska was raised in Arlington and decided to come to A&M in fourth grade during an Aggie football game.

"My brother leaned over to my dad during halftime and told my dad he wanted to come to school at A&M, and 30 seconds later I leaned over and whispered the same thing to my dad," Prochaska said. "I was committed to attending A&M since then and didn't even apply to any other school."

He decided to run for student body president at the end of last year when several people suggested the idea, but he was not sure if he would go through with it. Prochaska spent the summer of 2006 in Washington, D.C., where he said he would stay up at night thinking about the legislative and leadership abilities he could perform as student body president.

"I thought, wow, if I'm losing sleep over this, maybe I should consider running for student body president," he said. "The next step was figuring out if I could run, so I talked to student leaders and friends and asked if I should do this."

Prochaska said that after receiving positive support from people, he realized his dream was possible and started working in October to fulfill it.

"I have been very blessed with a number of opportunities at A&M to do, live and experience certain things, and I believe they were given to me for a purpose to be served in some fashion," he said. "That's where the decision came from that I wanted to run and had a passion to serve."

Janet Prochaska, Prochaska's mother, said he is the most passionate man she knows, whether it is about his religion, his family or his school.

"He has an uncanny ability to see all sides of an issue and is great at analyzing every point of view besides his own," Janet Prochaska said. "He sees the good in everybody and is totally committed to helping you if he's on your side, but most of all, he is not a quitter."

Janet Prochaska said he once put a toilet full of roses in a girl's yard as a way of asking her to a formal, claiming he just couldn't "go" without her.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools