Hadley Oden had a memorable 4th of July.

The former Montgomery City resident found out that she was selected to be a student representative of the Board of Governors at the University of Central Missouri. Oden will serve a term that will end on Dec. 31.

“I’m excited,” Oden said. “When the term I’m currently serving expires, I get to start my own (term). I get to be appointed by the Senate. So I will get to go up there and officially do the oath of office and that kind of thing. It’s kind of gratifying. In college, everybody said they want to be something. Then, every plan is changed. So it’s cool to see what I want to do in life.”

Oden was appointed by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to join the UCM Board of Governors that includes board president Ken Weymuth and board vice-president Stephen Abney.

“He reached out to the school,” Oden said. “The Board of Governors messaged me. Then, the representative I work closely with, Rep. Sassmann, called me and congratulated me, too. So I found out a little bit down the chain. But the best way I found out was when Rep. Sassmann sent me the bulletin for it. They had about four positions appointed. One of them was mine. I found out on July 4 at about 6 o’clock that evening.”

UCM’s Board of Governors sets policies for the university and is composed of eight members. Since she is the student representative, Oden will be the only board member who will not have voting privileges.

Oden lived in Montgomery City until 2020. She attended Montgomery County High School in her first two years before moving to Hermann, where she graduated in 2022. Her aunt, Jocelyn Schluss, is the assistant superintendent at the R-II School District.

Oden will be a sophomore at UCM this fall. She is majoring in history and is minoring in political science and legal studies. Oden plans to graduate from the Warrensburg school in the spring of 2025.

“I love it,” said Oden, who plans to attend law school after she graduates from UCM. “Honestly, I went there just for a filler year so I could figure out where to go next. I didn’t think I would stay there.”

Since last year, Oden has served as a student ambassador for UCM’s office of admissions, providing tours of campus and working as a representative in both on and off-campus functions. She also has served as a member of the Student Government Association.

Oden said she first became involved in student government when she attended Hermann.

“I was part of the student council in high school,” Oden said. “I wanted to stay involved in college. I was told when I got there to pick two things to do a semester to keep yourself active. They had a big involvement fair in the second week of school. I went to that. A couple of my friends already joined SGA (Student Government Association). I figured that if I could do it in high school, I could do it here. That’s why I joined it. It’s a little more intense.”

Oden is looking forward to her first meeting with the Board of Governors, which is scheduled for Aug. 17-18. Her first day of classes is Aug. 14.

“I am so excited,” Oden said. “We actually have a couple of events with the board of governors before I have my first meeting. We have a commencement, which we bring all of our freshmen in and basically do an opening ceremony. So whenever they graduate, we do invocation, which is a closing ceremony. So I get to be a part of that.”