Q&A: OUAB’s president reflects on time behind the scenes

Emily Hetterscheidt
Thu, 30 Mar 2017 01:41:57 +0000
Arts & Life, Events, Best of OSU, best student organization, big spring concert, josh hubbard, myth busters, ohio union activities board, OUAB

OUAB members put on a range of events during the course of the year. Credit: Courtesy of OUAB

OUAB won Best Student Organization in The Lantern’s Best of OSU 2017.

When students go to the OUAB Big Spring Concert on Friday, Josh Hubbard and his team will be making sure things go smoothly behind the scenes.

Hubbard, a fourth-year in finance, is the president of the Ohio Union Activities Board and has been involved with the organization for three years now. The Lantern spoke with Hubbard about what goes into running the organization.

The Lantern: What do you enjoy about working for OUAB?

Josh Hubbard: It was just absolutely amazing to work with the committee of other Ohio State students, who have all different perspectives, but all are here for the same goal which is to have that amazing student organization experience, and meanwhile being able to give back to other students on such a high level. So, I’ve kind of just seen that all the way through, from being a general member and then to a committee chair, and now the president of the organization — just being able to help other committee directors. It’s just been cool to be able to help now to facilitate all different types of events.

TL: Do you get good feedback from students about OUAB?

JH: No one’s really told me negative things about OUAB, to my face. Normally, when I see negative things it’s in the form of a question. Before anyone comes to me, they know how much OUAB means to me and they know how much I’ve learned from it and they know it’s all for a good reason. The negative comments I see are normally the ones I see on social media directed at OUAB as an organization. I never really take those personally at all. There’s always an opportunity to grow, and ultimately that is what the organization is about and it needs to receive those comments well to improve.

TL: How are you hoping that OUAB grows in the future?

JH: We always struggle between an emphasis on name recognition of talent and what we perceive as the possible impact of the talent making. So for example, we could bring Adam (Savage) and Jamie (Hyneman) from Mythbusters, who have an extremely solid name recognition among our age (group), or we can bring Kevin Breel, who is a mental health activist who had a failed suicide attempt, and tells a story in kind of a comedic manner. It’s always hard finding a balance between that name recognition and impact and story. I think we’ve just done a really good job of bringing relevant talent this year, and I hope that in terms of talent and who comes that that continues.

We’re working on a diversity inclusion task force, we’re working on an alumni association. So I hope that those things continue in a positive direction.

TL: How can students get involved with OUAB?

JH: On our website we have an event request form. I 100 percent recommend students to go and submit an idea because we read all of those. There also is a survey that in the past has been given out at orientation, and that’s an opportunity for first-year students to tell us about talent or their favorite TV show or favorite artist and we read all of those survey results. If anyone has friends in OUAB or sees someone wearing OUAB apparel, always feel comfortable approaching someone in OUAB and saying, “Have you thought about this person?”

Editor’s note: This interview was edited for length and clarity.