The only presidential candidate from the Brantford campus, Jennifer Taborowski, a fifth-year concurrent education student and WLUSU director, told The Cord that her reasoning for placing her presidential bid was because she wanted to further her experience at Laurier in a stronger way.
“I basically love Laurier, I love the students, my peers and everyone who works at the university, especially within WLUSU,” Taborowski explained.
“I thought it was a perfect opportunity to continue on with my experiences in a bigger capacity.”
While Daniel Saad, a fourth-year political science student at Laurier, has never had any experience within WLUSU before, he has made the decision to put his name forward for president and CEO in the upcoming elections.
“The main reason I’ve chosen to run is because I think I can bring a fresh perspective to the entire process and kind of give an outside look on how things operate within WLUSU,” Saad told The Cord. “I’m involved in the school, just not specifically there [in WLUSU].”
Prior to the start of the campaign, he said he has already been making connections with various staff members and students within the Laurier community, in order to ensure that he is well-known, approachable and that his platform is understood.
Chris Walker, a fourth-year political science student, is no stranger to WLUSU, having been involved with the organization since his second-year. After being elected to the board in first-year, he then moved towards being the chair of the board and then into the role he currently has — vice-president of university affairs.
“It’s something that I’ve thought about for awhile and it’s definitely not an easy decision because it could have dramatic impacts on an individual and certainly on the organization,” he told The Cord about his reasoning for announcing his decision to run on Jan. 10.
Current board director Caleb Okwubido, a fourth-year global studies and political science student at the Waterloo campus, has been looking for ways to get more connected to the Laurier community.
“I’m going to relate this to my personal experience,” Okwubido told The Cord. “I was disconnected to the community, and I was isolated. I had no one to talk to. That’s when I realized there was something in the Students’ Union.”
Okwubido joined the board of directors this year after being elected last February. He added that within the board, he was elected to ownership linkage committee and gathered more experience that way.
Annie Constantinescu, a fourth-year business administration student at Laurier, is using her experience in residence life as the basis for her reason for running. By being a don for the past three academic years, and as last year’s Inter-Residence Council (IRC) chair, Constantinescu is looking for ways to support the student public in a different capacity.
“By living with the students and actually engaging them on a day-to-day basis … I learned a lot about what this campus really means to a lot of different people,” she explained. “I was fortunate enough in the last three years [as a don] to accomplish that and I’m always looking for ways to give back.”
Voting begins February 4, 2013 at 8 am and runs until 8 pm the following day. Online voting will be offered.
Check out www.thesputnik.ca for updates and coverage of the Brantford open forum.
