In eighth grade, one of James Ingram’s teachers asked the class to write a letter to their future selves. That teacher sent the same letter back to Ingram at the end of his senior year of high school.
“It was one of those things,” Ingram said. “I was reading this letter, and I’m just like, ‘You know, not much has changed.’ And it was nice to see that the things I valued and enjoyed had kind of stayed the same.”
While many people undergo dramatic changes throughout their teenage years, Ingram, this year’s Student Association president, has remained consistent and steady in who he is since high school. But those close to him say his driven personality is complemented by subtle outbursts of unexpected humor.
Ryan Proud, a senior civil engineering major, is one of the same three best friends Ingram had from growing up in Fairport, New York, all of whom are also roommates with Ingram now. He remembers Ingram as the same person in high school as well – someone who was studious but also “goofy.”
Ingram’s younger sister, Meghan, recalls his silliness even going back to his younger days when he would “always wear a batman cape and boots” everywhere he went.
Proud said Ingram is one of his favorite people to hang out with because “you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth.”
“We’ll just be sitting on the couch and all of a sudden … he’ll recite a rap line by himself,” Proud said.
One night, when the two of them were listening to music, Proud looked up from his phone to see Ingram playing the “air guitar” by himself to “Two Princes” by The Spin Doctors. Since the very same band is going to be performing at UB’s tailgate on Sept. 20, Ingram’s friends have a running joke that he will be doing the same for the entire concert.
Rap lyrics and air guitar aside, Proud said Ingram will always share what’s on his mind and take everyone’s opinion into account within their friend group. Ingram also believes he is very much a “team player” in social situations.
In high school, Ingram was captain of the soccer varsity team. After graduating, he still kept in touch with some of the younger players.
Susan, Ingram’s mother, attended a game with Ingram last fall semester and witnessed the impact her son had on the team. After they won the game, the members charged toward the fence where the audience was watching. She said there was one member of the team that Ingram had closely kept in touch with after he graduated.
“When that kid saw James, his eyes lit up. He jumped the wall and gave James the biggest hug,” she said. “You want your kid to impact positively the lives of the people they come in contact with.”
Meghan said her brother is a big influence in her life, but the two used to have the stereotypical sister-brother relationship, with Meghan always looking to spend time with Ingram and him not wanting his kid sister around.
“I would be so happy that he got in trouble for not being nice to me, then he would have to play with me,” she said. “Now, me and him are so close, he’s the biggest person I look up to in life.”
His interest and focus in political science, however, is the one aspect that has been a change in Ingram.
He entered UB with the intention of being on a pre-med track. After half of his first semester, he realized that wasn’t his path. He took several introduction courses and found himself in a political science class where he realized that was the major he wanted to take on.
This curiosity, however, did not sprout in college. Ingram took a class his senior year of high school that assigned different topics for the students to research – his was homeland security. Ingram would have to make phone calls to offices located in Washington, D.C. that could help him with his research.
At the end of the senior fall year, the class took a trip down to the nation’s capital to meet up with the same officials who were wiling to talk about the topics.
“That was when I started getting more interested in [political science] to the point where I was reading about government and politics on my own,” he said. “It changed my focus on what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”
Once Ingram realized he wanted to be involved with the political world, he joined multiple SA clubs that catered to his interest – College Republicans, College Democrats and UB Conservatives. In his sophomore year, he joined the Student Assembly where he eventually ran for and won the Academic Counselor Coordinator position in the Senate the following year.
After serving on the Senate, Ingram felt he was familiar enough with SA to bring new ideas to the organization. He then started the Value Party and ran for SA President. The Value party swept the spring elections with Ingram and SA Vice President Evan Chen receiving 1,201 votes over the 951 votes of Impact party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates, Erin Lachaal and Myriam Diomande respectively.
SA Treasurer Sade Cadle said Ingram is an “efficient” and “understanding” person to work with in the office.
“He shows initiative to make sure everything gets done,” she said.
Just as he reached his goal in SA to be president, Ingram is also putting his efforts to further the goals of this academic year, one of which is continuing to grow SA’s positive image.
“[SA is] not a closed off group of people who are involved with SA but one that is open to all students that want to get involved,” he said.
Along with his executive board, he has also already started to work on his platform’s promises of getting more fundraising for clubs to use, buying items like an ice maker and a prize wheel for students to rent out and looking into setting up a mobile payment system.
Ingram knows in order to jumpstart his future, he will need to attend a prestigious law school.
“That’s definitely a short-term goal that I know will set me up for success,” Ingram said.
Proud said Ingram has been very focused on studying for the LSATs and will often stay home to study on the weekends as opposed to hanging out with his friends.
“He’s given up I don’t know how many beautiful summer days to be indoors and be studying,” Susan said.
Despite the multitude of responsibilities and tasks Ingram has to deal with, he takes time to get away to not think about the stress in his life.
“I try to keep a balance, and this is one thing my mom is constantly telling me,” he said. “It would be easy for me to just dedicate all of my time to one thing, but that’s not healthy.”
Proud and Susan have seen the acceleration in Ingram’s drive once he entered college.
“I’m very driven to be successful,” Ingram said. “I’m still working out for me what that definition is going to be.”
Ingram wonders at what point he will feel successful with what he wants to accomplish. But he knows he is on the right path and will continue to stick to his values balanced with the same sense of humor.
email: news@ubspectrum.com
