Every encouraging parent has a punch line—words of affirmation, motivation and positive reinforcement—to guide a child toward success. For Tiffany Dena Loftin, her mother’s guiding words were surrounded by humility.
“My mom’s thing that she always said to me growing up was, no matter what opportunity comes, always raise your hand to volunteer,” says Loftin, the current president of the United States Student Association (USSA).
“Anything extracurricular my mom told me to do, I did it,” she says.
While maintaining straight A’s in high school, Loftin ran track and field and was student council vice president, prom queen and a member of the theater club.
When Loftin entered college in 2008 at the University of California, Santa Cruz, her tenacity and involvement increased. During her first week on campus, she attended a student council meeting and inquired about employment opportunities.
“I just came and said, ‘Hey, I got a question, how do I get involved?’ I’m raising my hand, you should pick on me!”
By the end of the week, she had a paid internship with the president of the university.
