By Ashlyn Kennedy | Reporter
While serving in the role of student body president over the past year, The Woodlands senior Nick Madincea has brought the distinct perspective of a nontraditional student and an entrepreneur to Baylor student government.
Madincea graduated high school in 2016 and co-founded a drone start-up, Drone Parks Worldwide. According to a 2019 Chron article, he taught people how to fly drones and held weekly educational seminars at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston. After four years, the company shut down due to complications from COVID-19.
Madincea enrolled at Baylor in fall 2020, and he ran for Student Senate in spring 2021. He was elected as a student senator, and a year later, he moved up to external vice president before becoming student body president.
Madincea said he takes pride in his unusual route to college and his role in student government. He said he gets a lot of interest in his story, and there is both joy and pressure that come with the position.
“To the best of my knowledge, I’m the first nontraditional student body president we’ve ever had as student body president,” Madincea said. “It’s been really interesting to have that experience and to break a glass ceiling that I think is there but that not a whole lot of people talk about.”
During the time he was running Drone Parks Worldwide, Madincea said he learned a lot about working with people and running an organization. Even though the scale of Baylor is much larger and more complex, he said he has pulled from his entrepreneurial experience to guide his decisions.
“Understanding the ways that businesses function definitely has helped me understand Baylor better,” Madincea said. “We are a nonprofit — we’re a private institution — so we have to function like a business.”
Tanner Vickers, associate director for student governance and character formation, has worked closely with Madincea since his time as a student senator. For the past three years that Vickers has known Madincea, he said he has always focused on maximizing efficiency within student government.
“Since his time as a senator, Nick has had a strong vision for what student government should be,” Vickers said. “He’s always been very driven to support the advancement of the organization and the organization’s mission, which is to serve the student body and advocate on their behalf.”
According to Vickers, Madincea can hold student government “in a healthy place” because of his work in professional settings.
“After you’ve worked in a setting outside of the university, you have a different and more mature perspective,” Vickers said. “[Because of this], Nick’s work is focused on supporting initiatives that strengthen the organization from the inside and thus equips it to serve the student body better.”
Vickers said Madincea’s entrepreneurial experience is imperative to his role as student body president.
“Operating a budget, prioritizing efficiency, moving quickly — all those things are part of his business acumen that maybe your average undergraduate student hasn’t had the experience to quite gain yet,” Vickers said.
Madincea said one advantage he has found of being an older student with work experience is that he finds it easier to relate to both students and administration. He said it has informed initiatives that he has helped put into place during his time in student government, such as the airport shuttle.
“Many of the things we are doing in student government, they’re entrepreneurial in nature because we are creating something out of nothing,” Madincea said. “Applying that skill set that I learned while I was an entrepreneur has definitely helped our cabinet to achieve a lot this year.”
Since Madincea stepped into office last fall, student government has rolled out several projects to expand its presence on campus. In addition to the airport shuttle, it has formalized the Baylor-TCU rivalry with the Bluebonnet Battle, downsized the presidential cabinet by 57% to increase efficiency and fostered connections with the local Waco community through the monthly Student Body President’s Pastors Roundtable luncheon.
Madincea said being a nontraditional student comes with challenges but also blessings, as he is often seen as the “older brother” for many people on campus.
“I love that role and cherish it deeply,” Madincea said. “It means I get to just be a great friend to people and be able to help them and speak into them spiritually.”
Madincea said his advice to other nontraditional students is to not be afraid to “go all in” and invest in the Baylor community.
“I would say resist that urge [to pull away from community] and really dive into the Baylor community and search for that belonging with whatever your interests, unique callings and spiritual desires are,” Madincea said.
