Tess Patton is the Student Government Association’s (SGA) secretary for the 2022-2023 school semester. She was elected in Feb./Mar. of the previous spring semester to which she is serving now. 

Her background includes “I grew up in a very small town of about 200-300 people, called Mount Elmont (Altamont). I went to Taylorville high school which is about 15-20 minutes away from me. I was very involved in FFA, I did not grow up on a farm so FFA has a lot to do with how I got here.” Patton is in the ag transfer program here at Lake Land College (LLC). “I am very involved so I do not have a lot of free time but in my free time, I started a wood making business in 2020. So like wood art, and door signs. I also worked at a pumpkin patch.” 

Her plans after LLC include: “…after graduating in Spring 2023 I will transfer to Illinois State and earn [bachelors] in ag business or a minor in ag business and a major in ag sciences or something like that.” And when asked what she likes to do outside of SGA and LLC she stated, “right now I’m very involved in Collegiate Farm Bureau. So, at home I also do meetings there for Christian County Farm Bureau and I’ve been pretty involved in that and at home I do my wood carving business.” 

Patton described why she ran as well as her position by saying “I ran for secretary by going off of last year’s group and I really enjoyed the note-taking aspect of the position as well as the organizational aspect of it because of keeping track of the meeting minutes and putting them into the binders and other things like that, the organizational aspect I really enjoyed.” “And I think it’s important for the aspect of looking back on it, being able to tell what SGA was about and give a tool for future students.” 

Patton really enjoys being in SGA and hopes to “have more events like Angel tree, and groups getting more involved with their communities” is what she responded to the question of what she hopes to see or wants to accomplish before leaving LLC.