Brady Roland, center, with Gabby Giffords and the 2024 Giffords Courage Fellows.

The first time Brady Roland stepped onto the Portland State University campus, she fell in love.

"I was like jaw to the floor, it was so beautiful," Roland said. "I really don't think any other school would have fit me as well as Portland State does."

Roland is starting her second year as a public health student, but she's also the newly-elected Associated Students of Portland State University president. Last year, as a first-year student, Roland was an ASPSU senator and served on several PSU committees, including the Student Advocacy Committee, UPSOC and the Jason Washington Art Committee. She intended to run as a senator as part of the PSU For You slate for the 2024-25 academic year, but not as president. The former ASPSU President Yousif Ibrahim announced he wouldn't seek reelection and called on Roland to step up and seek office.

"He really pushed me to do it, but I'm grateful that he did," she said. "Leading a team of people isn't really something that I've always wanted to do, I just find myself stepping into a leadership position no matter what. I just can't help it."

She's hoping her past experiences at PSU - and in leadership roles for Team Enough Denver, a youth-led gun violence prevention movement, as well as a Giffords Courage Fellow, which helps activists develop leadership skills and learn how to advocate for gun violence prevention laws - will help her find her stride as ASPSU president.

"I've been a leader of many different things throughout my life, but being student body president at a university just holds a lot more weight than anything I've ever done before," Roland said.

Brady Roland in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Capitol Building.

As fall term begins, Roland and her ASPSU team members are focused on the upcoming presidential election.

"The biggest focus of fall term is getting as many people to vote as possible and making sure everybody understands what's on their ballot - whether it be measures or candidates, just making sure people are informed," she said. ASPSU is partnering with NextUp Oregon, a nonprofit that supports youth advocacy efforts, to help connect students with voter education resources.

Roland said ASPSU will also participate in the Committee on Socially Responsible Investment and Partnership, which is tasked with examining PSU's practices around selecting investments and deciding what organizations make good partners. The committee begins meeting soon and will make recommendations to support and enhance alignment with PSU's mission and values.

Supporting non-resident students and their success at PSU is also top of mind for Roland and fellow ASPSU senators. A resolution from Michael Jones, chair of the Student Advocacy Committee, was approved last year to develop a Nonresident Student Success Program.

"PSU does a really amazing job with supporting groups that need it, but for non-resident students, whether that be international or out of state, there's not really a specific place to go for help," Roland said.

Global Diversity & Inclusion is working with ASPSU to develop this program.

On a more personal note, Roland is also hoping to educate students about gun violence prevention and the role gun violence plays in public health.

"Being from Colorado where there has been so much gun violence, and having met so many survivors of gun violence and so many people who have lost people to gun violence, is the reason that I'm a gun violence prevention activist," she said. "When you realize that there are millions of people who will never sleep well again at night because they're so scared, that will push you."