New GSO President Seeks News Ideas, New Vision Including a ‘PhmTox Week’

By Chuck Carlson

New Graduate Student Organization President Nat Ato Yawson has a vision.

It’s a vision of unity, of participation, of food and fun and, maybe, of building the kind of memories that really can last a lifetime.

“I always like to work with people,” Yawson said. “I work with people who have strength in the areas I lack. And that’s my plan, just work with everybody.”

And that plan is ambitious as he looks to put together, along with the GSO’s new executive board, a “PhmTox Week” starting this fall. “I want us to build a culture where we leave five or 10 years from now and we can look at it and know there’s a week of celebration coming,” Yawson said. “Where we can say, ‘Hey, it’s PhmTox Week.’ I want to build a tradition and I hope we can all buy into that idea. I think people are excited about it.”

The fourth-year Ph.D. candidate says he has always enjoyed being part of organizations wherever he’s been and the GSO is an opportunity to take the student-run organization in a new direction.

And he will be joined by an equally enthusiastic executive board that includes co-vice presidents Sera Sermet and Brianna Finn; treasurer Derek Bowman; general secretary Emma Wabel; co-networking chairs Tessa Jordan and Samantha Musso; co-outreach chairs Kamila Sadko and Nana Kwame Kwabi Boateng; and co-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chairs Romina Gonzalez-Pons and Adriana Ponton-Almodovar.

That’s where “PhmTox Week” comes in, with plans focusing on the week leading up to MSU’s home football game against Ohio State on Sept. 28.

“We can invite alumni, have a tailgate event, meet, discuss memories, and see where everyone is and what they’re doing,” Yawson said. “We can have a spirit day where everyone wears a PhmTox t-shirt. We can end the whole celebration with a dinner. It can bring a real sense of belonging. It says, you know you were here. You’re part of a family.”

Fifth-year candidate and co-vice president Sera Sermet said Yawson’s boundless enthusiasm is becoming contagious. “When he talks about the things he’d like to do, it makes me amped up to do it too,” she said. “This is an ambitious goal, but we have a lot of members who are enthusiastic about it.”

She is part of the executive board that is putting together ideas, funding options, logistics and more to help make this idea a reality. She mentioned that another part of the week might include students visiting a local school to do an event that would highlight the pharmacology and toxicology field.

“We want to bring light to science and pharmacology,” she said.

Plans will continue for that week but Yawson said the key to the GSO being successful is everyone taking part in the organization.

“It helps you as an individual if you’re a part of a group, a family,” he said. “I feel like we value each student in PhmTox and we’re not just being counted as one of the many students on campus. Being a part of the GSO makes you feel that you’re loved. GSO is all of us and we have room for everybody.”