La. Tech SGA president wanted to 'give back' to her university and create community in Ruston
By MARGARET DELANEY | Staff writer Sep 28, 2024 from The Advocate
Kimberly Littlefield, Louisiana Tech Student Government President 2004-2005.
Kimberly Littlefield was born and raised in Ruston with her five siblings. Her mother was a three-time graduate of Louisiana Tech University. So, when it was time for Littlefield to start looking for colleges, La. Tech was both familiar and a perfect fit.
"Tech had more of the community I was looking for," Littlefield said.
In her time as student government president, Littlefield worked with facilities operations and university administrations to kick-start building improvements on campus.
"Twenty years ago, Tech looked a lot different," Littlefield said. "I don't think any of the dorms that I lived in are still existing."
She started the "Dog Haul" project to gather older classmates to assist new students moving into campus. Littlefield also took charge to coordinate La. Tech's 'Big Event' in her time as president — a service event where students and faculty are sent out to the community to do a variety of community services from mowing lawns to picking up trash.
Littlefield now lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Lance Littlefield, and her three children ages 3, 5 and 7. She works as a real estate agent with Keyfinders Team Realty.
How did you get into student leadership, and what were your main initiatives?
In my first two years, I was not an involved student. Then something happened between my sophomore and junior year, and I thought: “I really want to give back a little bit more to the university.”
I got involved as an orientation leader, which pivoted me into being involved in student government. I had a lot of fun just meeting different people, learning more about the university from the top down, rather than just being a student walking around campus.
Around that time, we were trying to figure out how to find the funds to improve some of our facilities. I think we're right now seeing a lot of what we started 20 or 30 years ago — and maybe even further back than that.
The SGA president right before me kick-started a lot of initiatives that brought the community and campus together. I remember she really connected with a lot of the local officials, and she thought we needed to be more of a face of the campus and Ruston.
Growing up there, I saw the separation. It was nice to see the student body really come out and want to get to know the community more.
How does what you are doing now compare to what your expectations were when you graduated?
I think being a student leader exposed me to a lot of different career paths I pursued — working in education and then working in college sports. I think my knowledge of working on the state level helped me adjust to those different careers.
