Standing Up for the "Little Guy"

Keller Metzker did not know the impact he would have on West Texas A&M University when he decided to run for student senate.

The senior Agriculture Media and Communications major ran to fill a spot in the College of Agriculture for the 2025-2026 academic year. This is not where Metzker’s student government career started, though.

During Metzker’s first year at WT, he met the student body vice president, Lane Golla, through their shared participation on the meat animal evaluation team. He said that after getting to know him and discussing the student senate process, he became very interested and filled a vacancy in the spring of 2025.

According to the Student Government Association at WT, to be a senator for the full 2025-2026 academic year, you must run in the student body-wide elections the year before. So, Metzker did just that.

He ran his campaign in a “grassroots system” with “buttons and talking to everyone.” Metzker was prepared for this campaign. One of the things that helped him was his ability to “stand up for the little guy, have a lot of friends so he can be the ear for the student body, and someone who is not afraid to get into some civil discourse.

Metzker ended up winning a seat in the student senate. He has also put in a lot of hard work this year to be that voice for the little guy. One of his first initiatives was trying to get sports medicine/athletic training for the rodeo team athletes. This is a very accurate representation of him following his campaign promises of “standing up for the little guy.”

Along with winning the seat in the Senate. Metzker was also appointed to chair the internal affairs committee by the Student Body Vice President, Boone Begert. Through this position, he has been able to show his leadership skills with his committee. This also directly aligns with his campaign and how he wanted to leave an impact.

Along with chairing a committee, Metzker has contributed to great conversations and brought up many great ideas, all benefiting students and giving a voice to the “little guy” in the entire senate.

According to the Student Government Association, Metzker has played a huge role in the success of student government association this year.

Written by: Mary Vivian Ivey