Once a shy high-school senior, Liz Mills said her experiences at the University of Iowa have helped her become confident in her bid to become UI Student Government’s next president.

Mills, the REAL Party presidential candidate, is devoted to service work, students at UI, and giving back to the local community.

The junior originally from Johnston, Iowa, is a political-science major and is minoring in Spanish all while being involved in a variety of UI groups and organizations.

Mills recently was a teaching assistant for the alternate spring break group and served in her eighth one-week mission trip.

She organized students and built a team committed to serving people in Denver.

She picked the trip specifically on the focus and not the location. The focus was social justice, poverty, and homelessness.

“Service really focuses on what is important to me, which is giving back to the community,” Mills said. “My main goal in life is to empower other people, whether it’s the Iowa City community, students, or the needy in Denver.”

Another organization focused on leadership and serving that Mills was involved in on campus is the Panhellenic Council, the governing body for sororities at Iowa.

UI senior Amanda Hart met Mills last spring when she oversaw the council and Mills was the vice president of philanthropy and community service.

“Service is her big thing, but she does small things by reaching out to her community and is involved as much as possible,” Hart said. “The whole time in her role in philanthropy was to stress the importance of it, and not only the act of philanthropies, but the reason behind it.”

Her friendly personality and genuineness is what makes Mills stand out as a friend and candidate, Hart said.

“She reaches out to anyone and everyone on campus, which was one of the best aspects of getting to know Liz,” she said. “I got to know more people because she knew so many people.”

Mills said she was shy in high school, and was nervous about being in a big university. However, knowing her friends were attending with her helped her transition, as well as push her to be involved in a variety of student organizations.

Living in Daum Hall her freshman year, she and her friends ran for the Associated Daum Board.

Mills said this position is what gave her the confidence to run for student government her sophomore year.

“Daum was the first learning experience where I was confident in how I learned with advisors and learned the ins-and-outs of advisers,” she said. “Associated Daum definitely helped me get to where I am now.”

Mills said the REAL Party leaders have connections all across campus, which will help them accomplish goals such as expanding Nite Ride to all students and giving students the option to get a credit hour to community service work.

Currently, Mills is a senator for the OPEN Party, the current UISG party. Along with her is Sen. Katelyn Kelley, who is a senior this year and is helping Mills campaign for the REAL Party.

In September, Kelley said Mills went through UISG bylaws and detected what needed to be fixed. Then, she presented her ideas to all the senators.

The bylaws, Kelley said, are necessary and are the backbone for student government. It was impressive how Mills read through the long documents, because she read them piece by piece and took a lot of time doing that.

“That’s how I know Liz as a person and as a senator,” Kelley said. “She doesn’t do something until it’s done with the best of her ability.”