By AMY K. STEWART

The Daily Herald

PROVO — Rob Foster knows all too well about imperfection.

His mother lived through her own personal battle with substance abuse. At age 1, Foster was sent to his aunt and uncle’s home to be raised.

His father died from a heroine overdose when Foster was 13.

“It’s surprising. But my mother always instilled in me and my brother to be better than the rest of the men in our family,” said Foster, 25, a junior majoring in psychology.

Twelve years after his father’s death, Foster was elected student body president at BYU becoming the first black student body president in the university’s history.

“She would always say we needed to make our generation better,” Foster said.

His mother, Sally, overcame her addictions, rejoined Foster when he was 14, and now works to help others overcome substance abuse.

Foster converted to the LDS Church at age 14 and served an LDS mission in East Los Angeles.

He attended Ricks College, where he played on the school’s basketball team and was involved in clubs and campus activities. He was named Ricks’ “Man of the Year” in spring 2000, an award that acknowledges an outstanding male student each year.

Foster headed to BYU in fall 2000 and was a group leader in the Especially For Youth program.

Out of 29,300 undergraduate students, BYU has 136 black students, about .4 percent of the population.

Foster got married in November. His wife, Carleen, backed his campaign all the way.

“She’s been right beside me from the very start,” Foster said.

Foster said he ran for student body president because it’s time the university got a wake-up call for overall improvement.

“BYU isn’t perfect. We all have a lot to work on to become better,” he said. “There’s so much potential.”

Foster was stunned when BYU officials announced that he had won. The decision was announced Friday after a concert in the ballroom of the Wilkinson Student Center on BYU campus. The final voting tally was 5,959 total votes with 2,580, 43 percent, going to Foster and his running mate Elisha Tengelsen. Tengelsen, 19, from Bozeman, Mont., is a junior majoring in recreation management.

He said a feeling of relief washed over him. The first thing Foster did was kiss his wife, he said.

But then the weight of the responsibility hit him, he said.

“I feel there’s a big need for me to make a difference at BYU,” he said.

President-elect Foster will take over the position from outgoing-president Matt Blackner in April.

“He’ll do a great job,” Blackner said.

Foster and Tengelsen also have big plans to boost mentoring programs to help freshmen and get students more interested in what’s going on with the Provo City Council.

“We want students to understand the City Council,” Foster said. “They need to go to the meetings. The council’s decisions affect the students’ housing and daily living.”

Foster also wants BYUSA to have a greater part in Black History Month next year.

And he just wants to bring BYU together, overall.

“We really need to unify as a campus and as an LDS people so we are knit together as one heart and one mind,” he said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

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