Kindred spirits: Senior class president, vice president bonded over similar experiences

At a party thrown by a mutual friend last fall, Sam Mahlum and Shelby Olson fell into an easy conversation soon after meeting.

They quickly realized they had much in common — both were STEM students planning careers in healthcare, and both had excelled at competitive sports. Each had taken a life-changing foreign trip with the student organization Wisconsin Medlife.

The similarities kept coming, but it was more than that. “We also realized that we really liked each other,” Mahlum says.

The two — juniors at the time — became fast friends. Last spring, when Mahlum saw an announcement about the upcoming election for senior class president and vice president, she reached out to Olson.

“Want to do this?” she asked.

“Sure, why not,” Olson said.

Looking back, both say their decision was a little surprising. Neither had been deliberately building a resumé for elective office, and both say they struggle a bit with social anxiety.

“But we figured, ‘What does it hurt to try?’” Mahlum says.

“We also were both thinking it was a great opportunity to step outside our comfort zones,” Olson says.

Effort pays off

At UW–Madison, the senior class president and vice president run as a ticket. All students with junior status are eligible to vote in the March election. Mahlum and Olson campaigned by introducing themselves to students on Library Mall and outside libraries, handing out miniature notebooks and tissue packets with their photos on them.

The effort paid off — Mahlum is now senior class president, Olson vice president. The Senior Class Office also includes five appointed positions that students apply for: communications director (Logan Anderson), events director (Deanna Hebbring), philanthropy director (Veronica Goveas), diversity, equity, and inclusion director (Dana Tabaza), and engagement director (Helen Simpson). Officer bios can be found here.

Duties of the Senior Class Office include helping to plan winter and spring commencement ceremonies, selecting the class gift, organizing senior-inspired events, and advocating for the entire class.

Impactful trips

Mahlum and Olson both say their approach to leadership has been influenced by their volunteer work with Wisconsin Medlife, the campus chapter of the national nonprofit Medlife. The organization partners with low-income communities in Latin America and Africa to improve access to medicine, education, and community development projects.

Mahlum, a biochemistry major from suburban Milwaukee, traveled to Costa Rica for a service-learning trip with Wisconsin Medlife over winter break last year. She helped set up mobile health clinics and assisted with tasks such as taking people’s blood pressure and teaching children how to brush their teeth. She also served as events coordinator last year on the board of Wisconsin Medlife. The role helped demystify leadership positions and gave her confidence to run for senior class president, Mahlum says.

“I had previously been a little intimidated by leadership positions,” she says. “But once you’re in a position like that, you realize that we’re all just figuring things out together as we go along. We’re all working toward the same goal; we just have different tasks.”

Olson, a biology and psychology double-major from New Brighton, Minnesota, traveled to Ecuador with Wisconsin Medlife during the summer of 2023. Much like Mahlum, she assisted local medical professionals in outreach to areas that lacked access to healthcare.

“I really enjoyed the patient interaction and the cultural immersion,” says Olson, who is applying for medical school. “The trip impacted me so much because I was able to diversify my perspectives and gain insights into a life I couldn’t previously imagine. It’s part of why Sam and I want to have events that create an inclusive environment, and why we want everyone on the board to feel they have a voice and are heard.”

Many talents

Mahlum and Olson bring many other identities to their leadership roles.

Mahlum is a transfer student who attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, her freshman year. In high school, she was a power lifter who competed on the national level (personal record: 303 lbs. in the 114-lb. weight class). She has worked as a certified nurse assistant at UW Health, and she is a student researcher on a team studying the brain, behavior and wellbeing. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in anesthesiology assistance.

Olson has an extensive athletic background, including competing twice at the national level in youth softball and at the state level in diving and Nordic skiing. She volunteers for the National Sexual Assault Hotline and as an elder life specialist through Meriter Hospital. She is heavily involved in cardiology research as both an Undergraduate Research Scholar at UW–Madison and as a Lillehei Summer Research Scholar at the University of Minnesota.

Olson says she struggled with her mental health in high school and enrolled in group therapy to help process her feelings. She speaks openly about this experience to destigmatize mental health challenges and support others, she says.

“I now have the keys to a positive outlook on life and the coping mechanisms to deal with adversity,” she says. “The strengthened empathy that comes from experiencing the debilitating effects of a mental health crisis first-hand has driven my desire to advocate for others who may feel scared, alienated or misunderstood.”

Olson and Mahlum are working with the rest of the senior class officers on a mental health initiative that would help students as they transition to life after college.

Events sponsored by the Senior Class Office can be found here, including an upcoming Senior Resumé Workshop on Oct. 18 co-sponsored by SuccessWorks, a career-readiness center in the College of Letters & Science.