Coming of Age: In Conversation with SGA President-Elect David Jackson III

In 6th grade David Jackson didn’t make the basketball team. “I got cut. Came back seventh grade, got cut. Came back eighth grade got cut again,” Jackson reminisced chuckling through the sensitive memory. “So now it’s time for high school and I said ‘You know, I’m not going to get cut this year.’ I worked my butt off, worked out every day.”

Unfortunately, Jackson was met with a similar fate. He was cut yet again from the 9th grade basketball team. 

But that didn't stop him.

“I made the team my 10th grade year, and after that I said I would never play basketball again,” he joked breaking momentarily from his professional exterior. 

That experience, though severely humbling, reflected a determination in Jackson. It is a quality that has proved critical in seating him at the most powerful student position at Florida A&M University: Student Government Association President. 

Despite his K-12 basketball career, upon arriving at the university in Fall of 2016 Jackson appears to be exempt from taking L’s. His freshman year he ran for the Student Senate and won first chair by an overwhelming margin. In Spring of 2017 he became a member of the Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and less than a year later he has won SGA President alongside his Vice-President Robyn Seniors. 

“I never really planned on being in SGA when I got here…I didn’t know too much about it and I wanted to be involved. I wanted to help people and I felt like that was the right route to go,” Jackson said. “SGA is a part of what I do but I’m very involved on campus. I’m a peer mentor, I’m in NCFO, so I’ve tried to involve myself in different sects around campus so not as to define myself but one thing that I do.”

It can be difficult to separate politics from the person with Jackson. From and outsiders perspective he can seem a little too put together: a legacy kid with great talking points, a perfectly pressed suit who appears to have been on the trajectory to take over “The Hill” since he set foot on it. 

“A lot of people will say that I feel entitled to this position or its been set up for me to be in this position, but had I not won I would have proceeded on with my life. I wouldn’t have tried to appeal elections and I think that just shows my character,” Jackson adds. “I’m cut and dry and I’m really doing this for the university and to able to serve the student body.”

Even so, Jackson still has had his doubters. Among his major critiques was his youth and the fact that he chose his childhood neighbor FAMU 21 student Robyn Seniors, a Business Administration student, to run with him on the ticket. 

“I feel like that’s a natural concern or worry about people’s age. They also said the same thing about President Obama when he ran in ’08. But, I believe firmly in myself in and what we can accomplish at FAMU. Age is just a number and maturity is not defined by your age,” Seniors argued. “I think they’ll happily be proven wrong we they see what we set out to accomplish.”

Even as his best friend, line brother, former roommate and fellow Senator Jabari Knox, a sophomore Civil Engineering student, was among the skeptics when Jackson revealed his intentions of running. 

“At first I wasn’t really for it. A freshmen and a sophomore running that’s pretty wild. That just doesn’t happen, it’s never happened,” Knox expressed. 

In spite of his initial concerns, Knox believes that to say that David and his running mate were incapable or unfit for the job would be a stretch of the truth.  

“David has common sense but he also has the common touch. He has a very caring heart and he’s not going to do anything radical. He understands that he can’t change the world but he knows that he can do as much as possible. The things he talks about in his platform points are all things that can be changed…it’s the small stuff that can make a big impact,” Knox added.

SGA President-elect David Jackson III is put-together. He’s as comfortable in his suit as he is as in himself and his intentions. Only two years into his time as a Rattler he has adopted many labels yet doesn’t allow them to define his true character.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many surprises with Jackson. Other than his quieted love for One-Punch Man and a questionable shooting average, he is yet another hardworking student whose hobbies include service and dedicating most of time toward bettering his university.   

“There’s work to be done. This next whole year I’m dedicating that to the students, to working, to  accomplishing things for the student body, to elevating the university. Well maybe after that I’ll take a…” he trails off. Looking up at the ceiling as if planning out the next five years of his life in his head. After a moment he’s brought back to reality, “Well I don’t know man, I’m not sure if iI’ll ever get some time to myself,” he said smiling at this realization. 

Clearly Jackson is a man on a mission, and he shows no signs of letting up.