He ran for student body president two times. He lost by a small margin the first time and then ran again and won big. Now, a semester shy of his term’s end, Burak ‘the Rock’ Kuntay has left FAU and his presidency.
The now-former student-body president and new FAU graduate, resigned from his position in December to “move ahead with his future” and to get a masters’ degree at Lynn University.
Though Kuntay says going to another university won’t change how he feels about FAU.
“FAU carries a very important part in my heart. I might be ending up in the worst university or the best university. But I know that FAU is the best university in my heart and it will stay like that forever,” Kuntay says.
The memories of who he once was will also stay with him forever.
“When I look at my life five years ago and today, I have confidence, a lot more maturity, a lot more responsibility, and I’m a lot more powerful then the day I started,” Kuntay says.
While he’s left the politics of FAU, he’s not planning on leaving politics forever. Kuntay plans to run an area a bit bigger than FAU — he plans to run his homeland country of Turkey.
“To run for an office one day. To serve my people. To work for the betterment of my country and my people,” says Kuntay. “In order to do that, I came to the United States to get a great education, which I know I did.
“I don’t have too much time to stay away from Turkey, I want to go to Turkey quick. But at the same time I want to get my Masters and Ph.D.”
And Kuntay plans on getting what he wants – the same way he made the accomplishments that he set out to do in SG, he says.
Kuntay wants to be remembered for his and his team’s “One FAU” concept.
“We united FAU. We united, we restructured. And right now, we built a structure that at least the next upcoming 10 administrations can be successful,” Kuntay says.
“If we are remembered 10 years from now, that this administration built the structure, if a student 10 years later who has never met with me says ‘You know what, Burak Kuntay and his team did a good job’ then we are successful.”
Kuntay believes that his presidency and ideals will be carried out as well as if he stayed.
“If they keep on working as a team, if they keep on supporting each other, and if they keep on focusing on the students and not themselves, then they will take the flag that I leave and bring it further forth,” Kuntay says.
“It’s time for me to move on. Because student-body president is not a full-time job, this is a good involvement in the college life if you do it for the right reasons, which we did.”
