LeDarius Scott: A born leader

Senior political science major LeDarius Scott has received a lot of awards and recognition during his four years at Augusta University, but becoming this year’s recipient of the Regent Willis J. Potts Student Advisory Council (SAC) Leadership Award is a particularly prestigious honor.

This award is special because Scott, who has served as Augusta University’s Student Government Association president for the past two years, was selected to receive the award by his fellow SGA presidents within the University System of Georgia.

“Earlier this year, some of the SGA presidents were telling me, ‘I am going to vote for you,’ but you never really know,” Scott said. “But it was an honor winning it because, it’s one thing to be a good role model for the students that you represented at your university, but to have other SGA presidents who admire your leadership really says something.”

It is also a huge honor because Scott is the first SGA president from Augusta University to ever win the Potts Award.

“This is the 10th year of the award,” Scott said. “It was first introduced in 2009 and I’m the first president from Augusta University to receive this recognition.”

The SAC membership named the award in honor of former Regent Willis J. Potts, whose leadership, service and commitment to University System students set the bar for other leaders to follow.

Each year the membership of the SAC anonymously votes for one of its members who has attended at least three SAC conferences or sponsored events and exhibited strong leadership in the organization. The student must also demonstrate knowledge about the USG, its policies and operations.

In addition, the student must be open, honest, respectful of others and enthusiastic in the engagement of all SAC activities and conferences, according to Dr. Joyce Jones, the USG’s vice chancellor for Student Affairs.

Specifically, Jones complimented Scott’s work in hosting the fall SAC meeting in Augusta.

“We meet three times a year and I actually had the opportunity to host SAC back in November for our fall meeting,” Scott said. “But I was nominated for the award during our spring meeting in March at College of Coastal Georgia.”

As a result of winning this prestigious award, Scott and his family are invited to attend the next Board of Regents meeting on May 14 at the University System of Georgia’s office in Atlanta. During the meeting, Scott will be given the opportunity to provide the Board of Regents an end-of-the-year report.

“The end-of-the-year report is basically a comprehensive review,” Scott explained. “All of the SGA presidents meet and talk about the issues as it relates to our respective campuses and my job is to really compile all of that and make some recommendations to the Board of Regents.”

Of course, Scott has another important life event a few days earlier. He will be graduating from Augusta University on Friday, May 10.

“There’s been a lot going on lately,” Scott said. “After two years of being SGA president, I’m finally letting that go and, obviously, with graduating comes a lot of emotion. It hasn’t hit me yet, but I’m ready for it.”

After graduation, Scott plans to pursue a master’s degree in public administration, probably at Augusta University, he said.

Scott said his parents, Tashun and Dennis Scott, are proud of all that he has accomplished during his college career.

“I am humbled to be a first-generation graduate,” LeDarius Scott said. “I’m from Augusta, born and raised. I come from a working-class family and college wasn’t always really an option due to the financial aspect of it. But I was blessed enough to get all of the scholarships that I needed. And I just told myself, I am going to make the most of this opportunity. And that’s what I did.”