Julian Parker said his responsibilities as Student Government Association president at Virginia Peninsula Community College include showing students they have power and how to use that power to make positive changes.
The reopening of the Wellness Center at the Historic Triangle Campus in Williamsburg next semester is a perfect example.
“A huge team of people has worked very hard to get that done, not just SGA,” Parker said. “But it was our job to empower the students to know these things are possible.”
The Wellness Center, located on the second floor, has been closed for at least five years. The newly formed Fitness Club was the driving force behind the reopening. The Wellness Center includes free weights, treadmills, other workout equipment and a shower.
“The clubs here that our students have formed are making this happen,” Parker said. “To start such powerful things wouldn’t have been possible without students saying, ‘Hey, I would love to have this happen. How can we do this?’ And then going forth and making it happen.”
It all fits into how he sees himself as a servant for the students.
“My first priority is to serve this campus and serve these students,” he said, which means providing them with the tools to reach their goals and helping them accomplish things they didn’t think possible.
Parker assumed the role of SGA president in spring 2025, after the then-president and vice president transferred to four-year universities. He was then voted into his current term, which runs until May 2026. He had been an SGA senator and judicial chair.
Having a leadership role isn’t new to Parker. At Norview High School, where he graduated in 2010, he was the captain of the football, wrestling and tennis teams. His professional life has also come with leadership responsibilities, so he’s used to it. Those experiences led him to where he is today.
“I wouldn’t say it comes naturally. It takes work,” he said of being a leader.
Parker, who is studying Information Systems Technology, is giving college a second try. After high school, he attended Old Dominion University for a brief time, but when he had a chance to work full-time in the mortgage industry, he jumped at it. After several years, he moved to Capital One, where he was for about four years. He tried starting a real estate business but wasn’t successful.
“I believe that experience helped me in my SGA role to expect the unexpected,” he said.
After being unemployed for about two years, he landed a position as a dispatcher for an HVAC company. Then he received a call last summer from the VPCC’s Workforce Development office. They had a scholarship opportunity, but it meant a new career in cybersecurity.
“This was the perfect opportunity, and it was like a bone thrown from the Lord,” he said.
He enrolled in fall 2024 and expects to receive his associate degree in May 2026, thanks in part to the College’s flexible scheduling.
“The online classes have been a blessing,” said Parker, who is married and the father of two (son Titus was born in 2018 and daughter Athena in 2020).
Despite being busy and wary of spreading himself too thin, he said the SGA presidency also is a blessing.
“Not just from the people I’ve met, but the responsibility that I’ve been given as practice,” he said.
He compared it to a seed he gets to water and watch flourish.
“One day, (that seed) is going to be my business, and I’m going to have to water and feed it,” he said. “One day, it’s going to be other people and the workforce, people who depend on me to feed their families. And because of what I’ve gone through here, and because of the talents and the opportunity that I’ve been given here, I’ll be able to not let them down.”
That’s far off, so he’s concentrating on his current roles. He stresses the successes at VPCC are not all because of him. It’s teamwork from students, teachers, staff, everybody.
“These things that I’ve been doing and the stuff that we’ve been getting done, it’s not me and me alone. I’ve had help, had encouragement,” he said. “It’s the whole student body.”
He praised the faculty and staff for reaching out to the students.
“We have something good that is brewing,” he said. “If we can continue to foster this, there’s nothing that this school and this campus won’t be able to do.”