Jeraul Mackey and other Student Government Association presidents attended the second inauguration of George W. Bush in the nation's capital in January 2005. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save How did Jeraul Mackey go from McDonogh 35 for high school and the University of New Orleans for an undergraduate degree, to obtaining master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard? When a modest Mackey, 41, reflects on the impressive academic ground he's covered, the path winds back to UNO and specifically to student government .
"Having that level of student leadership, that experience being exposed to different folks, different topics, different ways to really see the world," he said. "It has been for me, immeasurable, the impact that it's had on me in terms of the doors it's opened and the opportunities that it's created." Mackey, a New Orleans native, served as UNO's student government president for two years before graduating in fall 2005.
There are two events he finds particularly gratifying that student government made possible during his tenure. "One of the things that really sticks out for me is that we launched the first Diversity Week for the university. It's something that they were able to continue past my tenure," he said.
"To have an opportunity to say, 'How do we make sure that students feel like this is an inclusive place? What can we do to create that?' That environment is one of my proudest accomplishments within Diversity Week." Secondly, M.
