UCCS student president set for graduation, but looks to continue leadership with CU system

Axel Brown may be walking across the stage at UCCS’ commencement ceremony this week, but his work with the school could just be getting started.

Upon receiving his master’s degree in social work at the university this spring, the outgoing student body president is now setting his sights on one of the CU Board of Regents’ vacant seats.

“I’ve been a part of this community since I was 17.”  Brown said. “I’ve lived all over El Paso County over the years and I still care a lot about UCCS.”

Brown was born in Queens and raised in Brooklyn, New York where his involvement with social work came at a young age through the Administration for Children’s Services. Upon graduating high school, he joined the military with the eventual goal of continuing his education which would take him to Fort Jackson in South Carolina to Fort Lee in Virginia to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs.

He opted to stay in the springs following his service and continue his education at Pikes Peak Community College in the summer of 2019. He originally thought of pursuing careers in either dentistry or radiology but quickly discovered that social work was his true calling.

Upon learning about UCCS’s bachelor’s and master’s program options, he “jumped at it.”

“I always saw UCCS as that beautiful campus up on the hill from when I was in Fort Carson,” he said. “So, to come over here was kind of a dream come true.”

While earning his degrees, Brown would quickly become involved in the University’s Student Government Association (SGA) as its senator for military and veteran affairs. Despite his interest in increasing the quality of campus life for students, he admitted that the SGA was in a state of “turmoil” upon his arrival.

Fellow senator at the time Aidan Clark agreed, saying there was little communication and leadership from the SGA’s President and Vice President, who would often do the “bare minimum” at the time of their arrival.

“They would show up and read their monthly briefings, but they weren’t really involved in any campus events or activities outside of that,” he said. “So that led to a lot of arguments and struggles in the SGA.”

Despite these initial struggles, Brown would remain committed to the work and would subsequently run for senator-at-large and senator of innovation for SGA.

His aspirations didn’t end here, though, even upon his successful reelection bid.

“I respectfully declined and said, ‘No, thank you, because I’m going to run for president next semester,’” he said.

Brown had aspirations to be student body president dating back to his high school days, even if it was simply to do the morning class announcements through the school speakers “with a funky voice.” But the absence of a VP candidate to run with at the time put a damper on that dream.

Not letting that hold him back this time, he reached out to Clark to be his running mate, despite lacking a true relationship up to that point.

“He reached out to me in January and asked if I wanted to be his VP and we hadn’t really talked ever before then, but I said yes,” Clark said. “And we applied in March and quickly became best friends.”

Upon their successful election, Brown’s focus as student president was largely on repairing the campus view of SGA while also increasing campus-community involvement. This was ultimately accomplished, with increased attendance by SGA at campus events and the successful launch of the annual “Friendsgiving” and “ClydeCon” events among the highlights for him.

Other accomplishments during Brown’s tenure included the successful vote to increase the school’s Student Activity Fee to nearly double the SGA’s fiscal year budget for additional clubs and organizations on campus along with SGA-organized events going forward.

Clark pointed much of their success throughout this period to his own understanding of policy and Brown’s “willingness to never give up.”

“He’s amazingly stubborn in a good way,” he said of Brown. “He has a vision and he knows when to yell at the right people to see that vision through.”

During his time at UCCS, Brown also witnessed the decisions and developments for all the University of Colorado campuses as the chair of the Inter-Campus Student Forum where he attended all CU Regents meetings as a representative of its students.

This experience inspired Brown to continue his work within the university system by running for the board’s seat for District 5. With his collegiate career quickly wrapping up, he reached out to El Paso County Democratic Party Chairman John Mikos who explained the steps to become qualified to run.

“We had a good meeting last summer and he told me ‘Here are the five things you need to do to get started,’” he said. “And as soon as I got home that night, I got four of those five things done.”

At the time of this writing, Brown is limited to what exactly he can speak about regarding his goals and ambitions as a regent, should he get elected. That being the case, he specifically highlighted the potential of increasing UCCS’ visibility to the rest of the board and community at large along with expanding services and accessibility to its diverse student population.

Brown is currently working with the Colorado Springs Salvation Army as a social services coordinator which he looks to continue doing for the foreseeable future. He sees his opportunities for social work on the micro, mezzo and macro levels wide open to him going forward, regardless of the election’s outcome.

“But who knows? If I don’t get elected this time, I may run again in six years,” he said.

UCCS’ commencement will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at The Broadmoor World Arena.