A Voice for Wellness

President for a Day winner Cristian St. Clair champions importance of utilizing mental health services on campus

It’s a cool, breezy May morning along Tecolote Shores as walkers, joggers and bicyclists move along the Bayside Bikeway trail adjacent to Mission Bay. Among them, walking briskly and engaged in a jovial conversation, are University of San Diego President James T. Harris III, DEd, and Cristian St. Clair, the 2025 President for a Day winner.

Surrounded by the soothing sounds of springtime birdsong, the pair keep a steady pace as they ask each other engaging questions about family, hobbies, career goals, and the joys of camping. It’s the official start of a busy day — one filled with meetings, classes, interviews, introductions and dozens and dozens of handshakes and fistbumps. 

An early morning walk has become a staple of President for a Day, the university’s spring tradition in which one deserving undergraduate student switches roles with the university president. St. Clair, a Colorado Springs native, will graduate from USD next week with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in visual arts. He is the current president of USD’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). 

It’s a whirlwind day for St. Clair, whose duties include attending the Facility Management Students’ First Thank You Breakfast, his one-on-one walk with Dr. Harris, meetings with California State Senator Catherine Blakespear, San Diego Foundation Vice President, Chief Impact and Partnerships Officer Pamela Gray Payton, Director of Admissions Minh-Ha Hoang, Palomar Health Student Wellness Center Executive Director Kimmel Yeager and a tour of the Linda Vista neighborhood with Mulvaney Center Senior Director of Student Social and Economic Mobility Austin Galy. 

Throughout the day, St. Clair makes an enrollment decision and donates $1,000 on behalf of the university to the National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego. Mental health was a cause St. Clair emphasized in his President for a Day application, and it’s a message he continually spoke about throughout the day. 

“As a student who has utilized both the physical and mental health resources on campus, I feel fortunate to attend a university that places strong emphasis on the well-being of students,” said St. Clair, who is quick to point out that while the university has a wide range of resources available — and more with the opening of the Palomar Health Student Wellness Center — students sometimes are unaware of the resources available, or are afraid to access them. 

“These are students who face a variety of challenges that affect their emotional well-being — poor grades, failing to build meaningful relationships and a lack of purpose or direction,” he said. “Many of these students internalize their emotions and continue with their day, ignoring the needs of their mental health. This often stems from a negative perception of mental health resources, suggesting that those who seek counseling are somehow weaker or in need of correction. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and yet this is what I hear directly from the students I talk to on campus.”

St. Clair, who after graduation will leave for Dallas for a software engineer job at Capital One, considered applying for President for a Day as a junior, but held off because he decided to wait for the right moment. 

“As a graduating senior, it feels like the perfect way to cap off my time as a Torero—an opportunity to reflect on my experience, represent my peers, and contribute to the community one final time,” he said.  

Harris started President for a Day at USD in 2016 to give interested undergraduate students the opportunity to serve in his role for a day.

“Many years ago, it was suggested that I have a student follow me for a day, and I said, ‘why don’t we let them take over for a day’,” said Harris. “I thought it was important for them to get a sense for what a president does. It’s worked out quite well and I think the students walk away having a better understanding of the different constituents that a president has to work with — it’s an opportunity for them to step into a leadership role early in life.”

St. Clair was the first President for a Day awardee from the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering (SMSE).

“In conjunction with Mrs. Shiley’s incredibly generous investment into STEM programs at USD, there has never been a better time to create a space for our STEM majors to have their voices elevated and heard,” said St. Clair. “The SMSE student body is much smaller than [other schools], but this only further emphasizes why it is important that we engage with this portion of our student body. Furthermore, as a leader in the engineering space, it’s incredibly important to me to engage with all of our diverse communities in our program.”

— Story and photos by Matthew Piechalak, video by Alé Delgado