Name: Samuel Graska

Position you’re running for: Executive director

Year and major: junior, biology major

Hometown: Uhrichsville, Ohio 

What makes you a representative of the student body?

I believe to be a true representative of the student body, you have to be imperfect yet strive for greatness, be humble but have pride in your identity,  be compassionate yet strong and firm and be confident yet willing to serve. I have served my peers from being a Living Learning Community mentor, leading on the programming board of USG and currently being senator for the commuter and off-campus students, which makes up about 80 percent of the undergraduate student body.

What will be your top priority if elected?

To be the cause of the action that we have so long lacked on this campus. We always have had a lot to say, as we should, but it’s time students start acting and moving forward together. This will bring a transformation with Kent State school pride, our views of each other, and really increase the embodiment of how amazing it is to be a Golden Flash.

What do you think can be improved on with USG and the campus in general?

This starts with improving transparency from administration to the students, from USG to the students and, most importantly, the transparency between students. This transparency will not only create school pride advancements and student involvement, but will increase student morale as they learn that their voice not only matters, but that there is action behind the words they say and it is our job as USG representatives to help all students turn words into action.  

How will USG handle the growing prominence of diversity-related issues on campus?

Diversity-related issues all arise from the fact that there isn’t enough transparency, plain and simple. This makes us feel secluded and segregated according to how we identify ourselves. We have to come together, though because all of the differences are what make us stronger, what makes Kent State home and it’s what makes this world a better place. And that is my plan of action: to unite us and everything that makes us unique, that makes us who we are and embrace those qualities to ensure a future where, together, we can accomplish anything without bias, without racism and without prejudice.