Finalist
Michael Gale
University of Florida
Junior in Zoology/Wildlife Ecology
3.96 GPA

When you talk to people about Michael Gale, 21, from the University of Florida, the word you hear again and again is "passionate." Whether discussing the new honors dorm at UF, his role in Student Government, or his goal of being a zoo director, his passion is evident. Even the title of his essay for the Florida College Student of the Year Award was "Passion in Leadership."

That passion garners praise across campus. "Michael Gale makes an impact wherever he goes," says Mike Rollo, assistant vice president of student affairs. "He's extremely outspoken and opinionated. If anything's going on, Michael is in the middle of it, making decisions, seeing what needs to be done."

But he's not afraid to rock the boat to get things done. "Michael is more practical than political in his leadership orientation," says Norbert Dunkel, director of housing. "He's not interested in doing it the way it's always been done if that's not effective. Michael does the fact-finding, the problem-solving, providing options and alternatives, and then he's willing to show people what he's learned."

Gale says his effectiveness as a Resident Assistant comes from his enthusiasm. "The most important thing is to have a passion to serve," he says. "People get involved in things because they need the resume 'bullet,' but if you get involved with things you're really passionate about, it doesn't seem like you're losing time. You're just out there having a great time. With my RA job, I don't think, 'I've got to go talk to a resident again.' I love it and enjoy it, so it's become part of my day, not a commitment." Dunkel has seen Gale's work through Gale's involvement over the last two years as a RA and subsequently chose to be his mentor for the Reitz Scholars program. As an RA, Gale has gone beyond the usual realm of responsibilities to serve as secretary of the Staff Advisory Board representing all campus RAs. His work as a RA, along with scholarships and loans, pays for his education and expenses, along with a little help from his folks.

One area where Gale is most committed right now is in the honors program, where he's involved in the development of the new honors residential college, which will house 608 students. "Michael is very intimate with that program, with how the residence will be governed by students, how the honors ambassadors are going to be involved, how the student honors organization is going to be involved, how the residence assistants will be involved," Dunkel says. "He has been the student who's been able to sit down with the honors folks and the housing folks and really help bring it all together. It's been an enormous responsibility." Considering that Gale's a member of the honors program and served on the Division of Housing's Rules and Regulation Committee, he's uniquely qualified to serve on the advisory committee for the Honors College. "With my background in housing, being an RA for two years, and being an officer in the national collegiate honor council, I felt it was important for me to step up so that I could be used as a resource, being the only student leader on campus involved in both the honors program and housing," Gale says. He'll be serving as a residential college advisor on staff next year when the Honors College opens in the fall. He also is the president of the Honors Ambassadors, and under his leadership, the group won a campus award as the most improved student organization. "He's made a real difference to the honors program as the second president of our Honors Ambassadors," says Sheila Dickison, director of the honors program. "Under his direction, the organization has played a very important role in recruiting National Merit Scholars and talented students to the university in a variety of ways like weekly information sessions, the Overnight Stay program, Visitation Day, and a mentoring program."

Gale's involvement in the Honors program extends beyond UF. As a representative in the National Collegiate Honors Council, he serves on the executive committee, trying to create changes that will give students greater benefits from being in NCHC. In addition, he's writing a guidebook that will aid in "advising, maintaining, and creating Honors student organizations and Honors Ambassador programs," he says. "It will be a valuable resource to Honors administrators and students all over the nation, helping to make NCHC a crucial component of student involvement in Honors."

Gale hopes to pursue a career as a zoo director and says his passion is not just animals, but education. "I think people are sometimes really judgmental against certain animals, and I'd like people to see biodiversity is important and not just to like the cute animals, the ones that are chubby and furry," he says. He volunteers at the Florida Museum of Natural History where he leads nature programs for schoolkids. His love for snakes has found an outlet as he has developed a library catalogue system for the herpetology library, but his passion for the natural world has found another outlet—Student Government. He is the environmental affairs cabinet director for SG, and his impact has ranged from creating a huge Earth Day celebration to getting Styrofoam banned from the campus dining facilities to expanding the existing recycling facilities.

Gale's busy schedule doesn't keep him from doing the things that he loves; in fact, he made sure of it by making music his minor. "I think it's really important in life to be guided by a central goal, but it's so important to develop yourself outside of that. Music is my outlet, my passion away from my passion," says the 12-year saxophone veteran. "I felt it was important to minor in [music] because I'm such a goal-driven individual, and I felt if I wasn't pursuing music in some sort of an academic component of music, then I wouldn't make the time for it as much as I should. I wanted to dedicate a time to it so that I could keep growing and keep learning. I think in the business world, it's important to be creative, and music definitely fosters my creativity."

He has fostered other passions, as well, serving in UF's Dance Marathon, Marching Band, Kappa Kappa Psi, Theatre Strike Force, and The School for Field Studies. "In our own journeys of leadership, we all start somewhere, and you likely start somewhere with a lot of work, a lot of the grunt work," Gale says about his busy schedule. "Maybe you start off in a staff position for a program or maybe you start out with SG campaigning where you're out there wearing that shirt everyday and working a lot. But after you've had these opportunities to develop your leadership and you can become a resource for people, you can get into the really great opportunities to serve your community, but they don't necessarily take up all your time.

"I believe leadership is passion, I really believe that," he says. "True leadership is the essence of passion. "

Contact Gale at divrsify@ufl.edu