It is 9:10 on a Tuesday night. A handful of GW students are hurrying into a conference room tucked away on the fourth floor of the Marvin Center. Already present in the room is a student waiting expectantly behind freckles and black-rimmed glasses.

Cool and collected, junior Morgan Corr raises the gavel and calls the Student Association Senate to order. The story of this executive vice president and SA presidential candidate goes far beyond the walls of the conference room and begins in the Steel City, Pittsburgh.

On Oct. 26, 1984, Morgan P. Corr was born to a modest Irish-Catholic family of three sisters and two brothers in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. After his birth, Corr, his parents’ only biological child, was joined by two more sisters, who completed the 10-member Corr family.

“I owe all of them so much. My family is the reason why I am here,” said Corr, who is facing junior Lamar Thorpe in the presidential runoff this week.

His mother is a Pittsburgh native, and his father is an immigrant from Northern Ireland.

“My dad traveled 3,000 miles to a new country,” Corr said. “It is the American dream.”

Before coming to America, Corr’s father worked for the British government in Northern Ireland, encountering adversity because he was a Catholic who worked for the government in London. The predominantly Catholic Northern Ireland has been the site of bombings and other violence perpetrated by terrorist groups who want London to transfer Northern Ireland to its southern neighbor, the Republic of Ireland.

Corr has had to deal with some politically charged adversity of his own. During high school, Corr participated in the largest protest ever recorded in Pittsburgh’s history, against the war in Iraq. For his actions in the protest, Corr was placed in the county jail for one day. Although the charges against him were later dropped, Corr still has his mug shot, which he now proudly displays in his SA office.

Corr’s being gay has not been a matter of contention for others since he entered GW.

“Everybody has been great,” Corr said, an active member of The Out Crowd. “GW is a very welcoming community – it is very supportive.”

Corr’s free time is at premium. He is the SA’s EVP, has class, homework and other activities to juggle, in addition to a part-time job at the Philosophy Department and being a founding father in GW’s newest fraternity, Sigma Chi.

After graduating from GW, Corr has no plans to slow down. He already plans to attend GW Law School and enter the political arena after graduate school.

“I want to run for public office in Pittsburgh,” Corr said. “I want to get involved.”

Corr added, “When I want something, I do everything I can to get it.”