In just a few weeks, the UA family will return to Tuscaloosa to begin the 2010-2011 school year. This year the UA student body will once again be the largest in our beloved university’s history.

The University has seen some of its finest days in the past decade. From having the majority of USA Today All-American Academic team members to winning a National Championship on the gridiron, the University of Alabama has enjoyed tremendous national exposure. With the talent and leadership now on campus, these glory days for the University should continue for years.

All of that said, there has not been a more important time in recent history for the student body to work hard to shape its future and to continue the tradition of excellence here at the Capstone. Times in our state and in our great nation are trying for everyone. As our brothers and sisters in the University community went on to begin their professional careers in the spring, they found a lifeless job market.

Yet our state and nation need their leadership more than ever.

Our credentials and resumes are put to the test and compared against so many other talented individuals. “Well, John, where are you going with this?” you ask.

Well allow me to turn the clock back a year and four months ago. In March 2009, this university saw an energy that has been unmatched, at least since I arrived in the fall of 2007. Students from every corner of campus were debating important issues that affect our lives as student members of the UA family.

For those who remember, it was time for SGA elections. The 2009 SGA elections set all superlatives for elections of the kind. Massive turnout (twice as much as ever before), razor-thin margins and great plans for our campus were all part of an election that had this campus energized.

After the votes were counted, I was given the tremendous honor of serving as an SGA senator. I was ready to go to work for my friends and peers here at Alabama as soon as I found out I had been elected. Everyone I served with had the same energy and ambition for service to our fellow students. As I sit in the same chair writing this column that I sat in when I found out I was to serve, I feel somewhat nostalgic.

I still dream of the great future that is ahead for the University. This future, like every other possible accomplishment we can obtain, will not come free.

The student body must be energized again. We must discuss, on either side of any debate, the issues that we face everyday. Whether it is issues with our classes and academics, parking, dining or facilities, everyone must come to the table and join the conversation about moving this campus forward. Cliché and generic it may seem, but we have so much at stake. We have a chance to give back to our University and make it an even better place to learn and grow.

Let your voice be heard. The current SGA administration cannot wait to hear it. We must prioritize ethics and integrity and hold our elected representatives to those standards. All divisions that exist within our community must be put to rest for good if we wish to move forward.

These are divisions we are all aware of and, unfortunately, they shape our community in some ways. Such divisions are needless and detrimental to our future.

On each side of the proverbial aisle, we must realize what we all have in common and what we are really here to accomplish at the Capstone. Our 35th President, John F. Kennedy had this to say in June 1963, speaking on US-Soviet relations, “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal.”

We should all apply this in context here at Alabama every day.

If we come together to help provide solutions for every issue we face and help build an even stronger campus, those who seek to gain only in selfish means will fail in their path to power.

Everyone should ask themselves the following before classes start on August 18: When you look back 30 years from now at your time at Alabama, do you want to remember how you were greatly prepared for the world ahead and all of the good times you enjoyed? How about also being able to remember that you were part of making it even greater for generations to come?

John Anselmo is a junior majoring in economics.