Before reading further, check the date. If it is March 7 or earlier, you still have time to vote in the 2018 student government elections for the Associated Students at Washington State University Vancouver.
Elections opened on ASWSUV.com on March 1, with 14 candidates competing for senatorial positions and two tickets for the presidential and vice presidential office. The executive ballots include students who are no strangers to the workings of ASWSUV. On one ticket, Vicente Chavez is running for president with his vice presidential running mate, Davina Cepeda. On the other, Caroline Brenner for president with Zeke Estes for vice president.
Chavez and Cepeda say they plan to implement “ACT,” a three-pillared platform promoting advocacy, compassion and transparency. Their plan largely involves continued community outreach efforts, creating resource awareness and fostering Cougar pride. “Hopefully with promoting the VanCoug identity there could be confirmation of more growth in self-identity,” said Cepeda. “Some students, they’re so used to the ‘classroom, home, classroom, home.’ Hopefully we can encourage promoting their own self-identity and diversity. Diversity doesn’t have to include just culture. It’s deeper than skin. Diversity can be personality and your beliefs.” Cepeda said, explaining the motivation behind their agenda.
Brenner and Estes have developed a four-tiered platform based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: accessibility, transparency, communication and involvement. “The basis of Maslow’s hierarchy says in order for people to feel emotionally safe in their life they need to have their basic needs taken care of first, so they need to know where their next meal is coming from and that they’ll be safe,” Brenner said. “We believe that on campus, it’s the same thing. Before we can expect people to want to be involved and be on campus, they need to feel safe and valued and have their basic needs taken care of. I think in terms of attention that’s at the forefront, making sure that students want to be here as much as we want them to be here.”
Chavez explained a little more about himself and his vision as a student leader. He grew up in Vancouver after his family immigrated from Veracruz, Mexico, and is currently a second year neuroscience and biology double-major, minoring in chemistry. “Growing up in poverty, I grew up not having a voice in any system I was in. It was a lot of having to figure it out on my own and having to uncover the world and the reality that I was living in,” Chavez said, describing his personal struggle. He emphasized this issue as being much deeper than skin. Chavez works with the College Access Program, visiting local low-income schools like MLK Elementary and Fort Vancouver High School. The program promotes the idea of college and aims to create an understanding of university vocabulary by explaining the concept of tuition and scholarships. “I didn’t have that vision, because there was no structure. It was just a blind step forward when you were growing up, so I want to really establish what university is.” Chavez said that he receives Pell grant, Washington State Need grant and has a College Bound scholarship. His goal is to make sure students are aware of these financial programs. Chavez is a peer mentor and Student Ambassador on campus and believes his experience and personal vision will be key to bringing new students to WSU Vancouver and pride to the campus environment.
Brenner is a Vancouver native and a third year mechanical engineering major. She explained meeting her running mate Estes when they were both freshman minoring in computer science. “As much as we’re going into it with our own agenda and our own platform, there’s also 11 senators and seven executive staff positions that are coming in with their own ideas and platforms,” Brenner explained. She said that her biggest asset in this campaign is her experience on campus, especially within student government. She has served as major events coordinator for the Student Activities Board, ROAR orientation leader for the Office of Student Involvement, director of leadership development for ASWSUV and as vice president of American Society of Mechanical Engineering.
“This is my third year, consecutively, in student government. I bring knowledge of all of the purchasing processes and all of the travel paperwork. There’s a huge learning curve when you’re coming into student government fresh. I’ve climbed that curve not once, not twice, but three times,” she said. “We know what works and what doesn’t work in student government. Zeke and I are both going into it with a lot of experience and knowledge and we’re not making promises that we know we can’t follow through on.” Brenner concluded, “Everything in our campaign that we address we know that we can address in office.”
Cepeda, Chavez’s running mate, was born in Guam and is a third year integrated strategic communications major, minoring in political science. She is currently an ASWSUV senator, a student worker in Student Affairs and a SALT ambassador. “A lot of students come to the Cougar Center with questions or concerns and so from my position there, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge,” Cepeda said, describing their plan to better inform students of the available resources on campus. She said her experience working with the Cougar Food Pantry has made her aware of the need to go beyond open door policy student contact. “I want students to know these resources are accessible to them,” Cepeda said, stressing the need to seek out opportunities to engage with students.
Estes, Brenner’s running mate, is from Woodland, Washington, and is a third year electrical engineering major, minoring in mathematics. He is an office assistant for the chancellor, ASWSUV senate secretary, Student Media Board chair and has contributed to student orientation and involvement. Estes brings experience from a variety of campus organizations, but he stressed that the student body voice would guide his and Brenner’s executive decisions. “The issues I want to tackle are the issues this student body wants fixed the most. It’s not about me, it’s about them, and we just have to listen,” he said. Estes spoke of the student government’s struggle with “inclusion in ensuring our student body has a voice” and shared Brenner’s confidence in their experiential ability to amplify the student voice. “We understand the process the organization must take to enact change,” he said, “This means that not only do we have a vision, but also an execution plan.”
For more information on the election, visit ASWSUV.com or visit the “Election Board” page on CougSync. Election results will be announced March 7 at 8 p.m. in the Firstenburg Student Commons, room 104.