Long ride back for Belanger

As he waited for his first IU Board of Trustees meeting to begin, 24-year-old Jamie Belanger began rubbing elbows with the same administrators and staff he answered to as a student just two years prior.\nBelanger is the newest member of the IU Board of Trustees and the first trustee elected from outside of Indiana. \nWith his parents and girlfriend close by, Belanger began getting acquainted with the eight members with whom he now shares the board.\nAnd he still doesn't believe it's happening.\n"You've got to pinch yourself sometimes," Belanger says. "It's still weird to be here."\nAt 24, he is currently the youngest member of the trustees, giving the board a jolt of youthfulness. Belanger ran much of his campaign around the lack of youth on the current board.\nBelanger was elected to the board in June, beating seven other candidates who were vying for this year's open spot. He received over 7,000 of the 28,000 votes cast by the University's alumni.\nBack in May, Belanger put the spotlight on the trustee race when he accused another nominee, John Nash, of using unauthorized mass e-mail lists to campaign.\nBelanger said he believed the e-mails were unfair because they were not accessible to all candidates.\nHe defeated his closest competitor, Nash, by more than 3,000 votes.\n"He resoundingly overwhelmed seven other candidates, and we're happy he is with us," said Frederick F. Eichhorn, president of the board of trustees.\nBut Belanger never believed he would beat his competition by so large a margin.\n"I don't think I ever expected to win," Belanger said. "I think everyone was still a little shocked when they actually found out that I won."\nBut those who know Belanger best weren't shocked.\n"I don't think any of us are surprised (he won)," said Belanger's mother, Cindy Brown.\nBrown said her son's love for the University drove him to become a trustee, even though Belanger didn't want to come to IU until late in his senior year of high school.\nBelanger was born in Canada and his family moved to Michigan when he was in elementary school. \nThey lived twenty minutes outside of Ann Arbor, Mich., the home of the University of Michigan, a school Belanger planned on attending until he decided to visit Bloomington in April of his senior year to learn more about IU. He was so impressed he decided to attend.\n"I look back now, and I can't even imagine what life would be like had I not attended IU," Belanger said.\nDuring his years in Bloomington, Belanger was the treasurer and president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and also rode in the Little 500 twice. He graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 2000 with a degree in finance.\nImmediately after graduation, Belanger moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he became a financial analyst and then a profit forecaster for the Iams Company.\nEven though he'll be living a state away, Belanger looks at the distance as a welcome challenge.\n"I know it's going to be a lot of driving and just a lot of work in general," Belanger said.\nFor the past couple months, Belanger has been getting accustomed to the job of a trustee, visiting IU's campuses, meeting with administrators and trying to get up to speed on the responsibilities of being a board member.\nBelanger is also getting used to working with people like IU President Myles Brand on a routine basis.\n"We actually shook hands one time at a football game, but I doubt he remembers," Belanger said.\nBelanger said his main goals are to make sure the needs of alumni are addressed, as well as battling with the state for funding for higher education.\n"I'm anxious to actually get to the point where I can contribute a little more," Belanger said. "It's such a steep learning curve"