Candidates speak on qualifications, issues
March 14, 2006
Undergraduate Student Senate will be holding elections tomorrow for its nine student senator positions.
Undergraduate students can vote online between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. tomorrow at www.wfs.kent.edu or www.uss.kent.edu. Winners will be announced between 6 and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on the plasma screen in front of the USS Office in the Student Center.
Below, the candidates lay out their qualifications and platforms for office. Lindsay Fields, candidate for student advancement, and Christopher Corbett, candidate for research and development, could not be reached for comment.
Ross Miltner
Running for: Executive Director
Major: Communication studies
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Work with the All Campus Programming Board to improve programming on campus.
– Remove permanent seats on the Allocations Committee so all student organizations have an equal opportunity to be represented.
– Work with a new program the city manager has been working on, which connects the city and university via internships and projects for students.
Involvement:
Senator for community affairs
Delta Upsilon fraternity
College Democrats
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go:
Ireland, Italy and France
Dream Job:
Dean at a major university
Favorite Quote:
“A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company,” Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1930-1941) and Delta Upsilon alumnus
Christopher Taylor
Running for: Executive Director
Major: Nursing
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Improve public safety on and off campus
– Address communication issues between USS and the undergraduate student body by getting more students to come to weekly USS meetings.
– Give students an automatic $100 on their board plan for FlashCash, so students can go off campus to dine.
Involvement:
PRIDE!Kent President
Public Safety Advisory Committee
Students for Professional Nursing
Gospel Choir
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go:
London
Dream Job:
Nursing lobbyist, activist
Favorite Quote:
“Be who you are,” Anonymous
Preston Mitchum
Running for: Academic Affairs
Major: Political science
Year: Sophomore
Age: 20
Platform Goals:
– Promote and expand USS book exchange.
– Hold forums to show students how to use the KAPS report.
– Make pamphlets to show students the different LER options available to them.
Involvement:
Senator for student advancement
Black United Students
Vice President of Kent State NAACP
Phi Sigma Pi honors fraternity
Chair of Student Leadership Committee
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go:
Anywhere in Africa, especially Egypt
Dream Job: Attorney
Favorite Quote: “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything,” Malcolm X
Caitlin Faas
Running for: Academic Affairs
Major: Vocational family and consumer science
Year: Sophomore
Age: 19
Platform Goals:
– Help freshmen learn about the plus/minus system at Kent State.
– Promote the effective use of instructor evaluations.
– Promote the XF grade, because students who cheat should not receive the same grade as those who try and get an F.
Involvement:
Resident Assistant for Centennial Leadership Academy
Honors College Policy Council
Phi Sigma Pi honors fraternity
National Resident Hall Honorary
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go:
France
Dream Job:
Author of self-help books
Favorite Quote:
“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except she did it backwards and in high heels,” Faith Whittlesey
Sean Groves
Running for: Business and Finance
Major: Finance
Year: Junior
Age: 20
Platform Goals:
– Remove permanent seats on the Allocations Committee.
– Revise block funding to make university responsible for it, instead of students.
– Hold allocations informational seminars to educate student organizations on the allocations process.
Involvement:
Undergraduate Student Senate Allocations Committee
Member and Treasurer of Delta Upsilon Fraternity
Member of Financial Management Association
Member of College Republicans
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go:
London
Dream job:
Financial analyst in New York City
Favorite Quote: “The only way to succeed is through hard work and dedication,” Sean Groves
Nathan Williams
Running for: Business and Finance
Major: Integrated social studies
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Create a diverse Allocations Committee board.
– Create better relations among student organizations and the business and finance senator.
– Provide more permanent seats on the Allocations Committee.
Involvement:
Community affairs officer of Black United Students
Planning committee for United for Biloxi
Lead teacher for Progressive Education Community School
Member of Students Against Katrina
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Egypt
Dream Job: Mayor of Youngstown
Quote: “People without knowledge of their past are like trees with no roots,” Marcus Garvey
Kourtney Wolfgang
Running for: Research and Development
Major: Business management
Year: Junior
Age: 20
Platform Goals:
– Work more with the All Campus Programming Board. Research what programs are popular at other universities to see if they would be popular here.
– Work with other senators to let the students know what they are working on.
– Find new ways to reach students via polls and surveys and through student organizations.
Involvement:
Member of Delta Gamma sorority
National Society of Collegiate Scholars
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Hawaii
Dream job: CEO for Pepsi
Favorite quote: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” source unknown
Donovan Hill
Running for: Student Relations
Major: Political science
Year: Junior
Age: 20
Platform Goals:
– Have a student senate briefing in the Daily Kent Stater, so students are informed on projects the senators are working on.
– Improve the university orientation program by visits from representatives of student organizations to get freshmen involved on campus.
– Improve the connections between student organizations and USS in order to improve public safety.
Involvement:
Member of College Democrats
Member of Pre-Law Club
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Japan
Dream Job: Senator, preferably in Ohio
Favorite quote: “The sword is an instrument of death. Its use is to kill. But in killing one evil man, the sword gives life to hundreds that he might have harmed,” Yagyu Menenori
Brian Apel
Running for: Student Relations
Major: Communications studies
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Improve the Coffee with Cartwright program, and get the new president involved.
– Improve communication between the administration and undergraduate student body.
– Help student organizations improve their advertising for programs.
Involvement:
Served on the USS Allocations Committee
USS Representative to the Public Safety Committee
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Russia
Dream Job: Sports agent
Favorite quote: “You don’t make decisions because they are easy, you make them because they are right,” source unknown
Christen Coppola
Running for: Student Relations
Major: Marketing
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Set up biweekly luncheons for an informal meet-and-greet with deans and professors.
– Attend as many student organization meetings as possible to connect them with USS.
– Strengthen and continue the Committee for Student Advertising.
Involvement:
Director of Public Relations for Kent Interhall Council
Member of the Pre-Law Club
Member of American Marketing Association
University Orientation Instructor
University Orientation Student Instructor Trainer
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Bahamas
Dream Job: Civil Court lawyer
Favorite quote: “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today,” James Dean
Megan Sedello
Running for: University Affairs
Major: Psychology and speech pathology
Age: 21
Platform Goals:
– Bring back the All University Hearing Board, which acts as a jury of peers instead of one hearing officer.
– Promote the judicial advocate program, which helps students who go through judicial affairs.
– Work to improve safety on campus.
Involvement:
Member of Delta Zeta sorority
Senator for University Affairs
Overseer of Judicial Advocate Program
Parking Services Committee Undergraduate representative
Intramural volleyball league
Omicron Delta Kappa Honors fraternity
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dream job: Actress/singer
Favorite quote: “Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it is the moments that take your breath away,” from the film Hitch
Richard Wittkopp Jr.
Running for: University Affairs
Major: History
Year: Senior
Age: 22
Platform goals:
– Get student organizations involved to improve public safety.
– Create student involvement in the presidential search.
– Have student voices heard on the smoking ban the university is proposing.
Involvement:
Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity
Three years in ROTC Air Force
Three years with All Campus Programming Board
Kent Pres. – Presbyterian college group
Dream Job: Catholic Youth Ministry
Favorite quote:”You can’t lose what you don’t put in, but you can’t win it either,” Matt Damon in Rounders
Amy Groya
Running for: Governmental Affairs
Major: History and political science
Year: Sophomore
Age: 19
Platform Goals:
– Create report cards for all Ohio legislators on how they vote on issues of concern to college students.
– Increase student awareness of statewide and local candidates.
– Continue and expand upon the “Live Here, Vote Here” program.
Involvement:
Membership director for the College Democrats
Served on Allocations Committee
Served on Affirmative Action Search Committee
Delta Zeta sorority
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Geneva, Switzerland
Dream Job: President of the United States
Favorite quote: “Character is a journey, not a destination,” source unknown
Benjamin Feld
Running for: Student Advancement
Major: Marketing
Platform goals:
– Get students more involved in organizations on campus.
– Spread awareness of Student Legal Services by increasing advertising.
– Continue to chair the Student Leadership Development Board and work with student organization leaders.
Involvement:
Served on Allocations Committee
Member of Sigma Chi fraternity
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: France, Italy
Dream Job: CEO of a Fortune 500 company
Favorite quote: “And in the end, it is not the years in your life that count, it is the life in your years,” Abraham Lincoln
Jacob Keaton
Running for: Student Advancement
Major: Exercise physiology
Year: Sophomore
Age: 24
Platform goals:
– Spread awareness of Career Services.
– Spread awareness of the Student Leadership Development Board.
– Set up different workshops, lectures and peer-to peer help to advance student leadership on campus.
Involvement: Six years in the Army
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Madagascar, to go diving off the coast
Dream job: Work with the president
Justin Jeffery
Running for: Community Affairs
Major: Political science
Year: Junior
Age: 21
Platform goals:
– Connect the campus to the city through focus groups and meet-and-greets with the mayor.
– Help create a positive image of college students through community service projects.
– Implement Police Review Board, as an outlet for students to voice their concerns.
Involvement:
Kent Interhall Council President
Member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity
Student ambassador
Co-chair for student homecoming committee
A destination you’ve never been but always wanted to go: Egypt
Dream job: President of a university
Favorite quote: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” Eleanor Roosevelt
Bethany Taylor
Running for: Community Affairs
Major: Middle childhood education
Year: Sophomore
Age: 20
Platform goals:
– Establish a relationship with Kent City Police, so Kent State students acknowledge their rights.
– Have the city noise ordinance revised, and have police clearly state how exactly one can violate it.
– Actively persuade local businesses to be open to the public 24 hours, especially popular study areas for students such as Starbucks.
A destination you’ve never been, but always wanted to: Australia
Dream job: A pilot for a famous person’s private jet
Quote: “A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction,” Rita Mae Brown