Back when he was a freshman in 2008, Billy Stephens didn’t know much about the Student Government Association.

But at the urging of Kaylee Egerer, current campus improvements chair, Stephens attended a few meetings. He was elected a senator a few weeks later.

Fast forward more than two years, and Stephens, now a junior, is president-elect for SGA.

“It’s amazing to see how he has grown,” Egerer said.

Through the clubs and organizations he has been involved in at his time at WKU, Stephens said he has learned time management, social skills, responsibility and how to be a leader.

He said this has all helped shape him to become WKU’s next student body president.

Stephens said it was a “family tradition” to attend WKU.

“A lot of people are UK fans, but I was born and raised WKU,” he said. “Everyone in my family has gone here — my dad, my aunt, my uncle, my sister and eight of my cousins.”

As a freshman, Stephens rushed Sigma Chi fraternity. He now serves as vice president and vice president of recruitment for the Interfraternity Council.

“I was always social my last two years in high school, and I wanted to do the same in college,” he said. “I wanted to make a difference and leave a legacy.”

Stephens said he has also been involved with Relay for Life, the main fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, since he was in middle school.

Louisville junior Natalie Price has worked with Stephens on the WKU Relay for Life committee and has known him since high school. She said Stephens turned out to be an ambitious individual.

“When people get involved in college, a lot of them drift off as they get older, but Stephens has done the opposite,” she said. “I’ve seen him mature a lot.”

He is currently the logistics chairman for this year’s Relay for Life.

“It helped me realize that there is always someone in worse shoes than you, so it had a real big influence on me,” he said.

Price said that in his position, Stephens will be in charge of all of the technological aspects of the event.

“Even with everything he has going on, I have no doubt he will put a lot of focus on it,” she said.

Egerer has known Stephens since they were both freshmen, and she said Stephens is “super admirable.”

“Anything he gets involved in, he takes a leadership role in,” she said. “He gets stuff done. He knows time management and balance.”

Stephens will be SGA president next year after serving a year as the director of academic and student affairs.

“He came in to SGA as a senator and realized it was something he wanted to put more time in to,” Egerer said. “He took the initiative to take on an executive role, and he has done great at it. He is more than qualified to be the student body president.”