#1.2013017:1783714045.png:Travis-Machmiller.png::

#1.2012967:801040762.png:Mark-Hayes.png::

#1.2012961:840935210.png:Joshua-Johnson.png::

Christman and Skogland aim to expand the involvement of students across campus.

Shad Christman and Maria Skogland followed in the footsteps of the current Students’ Association president and vice president as state FFA officers and hope to do the same in SA.

Like Brett Monson and Erin Kennedy, Christman, a junior speech communication and political science major, and Skoglund, a junior agricultural economics major, served together as state officers for the Future Farmers of America.

In December, Christman started talking to Skoglund about running for SA.

“We worked together really well as state FFA officers, and we know each other’s strengths and personalities, so I was an obvious running mate for him,” Skoglund said.

Christman and Skoglund have three main platforms for their campaign.

The first is to create a congress of student organizations.

“Our vision is to see sort of another branch of student government that would act as a place where a representative or any number of people from all the groups across campus could come together and talk about issues on campus,” Christman said.

Skoglund said the congress would make it easier for students to get involved.

“Since one of our long-term and general hopes for campus is for every student to get plugged into their area of interest, it would make it more accessible and easier for student organizations to reach out to students,” she said.

Their second platform is to look into establishing reciprocity with more states. Skoglund said they will do this by looking at available studies, as well as taking into account the various impacts of expanding reciprocity.

“We know we can’t walk in and fix it right away, but we could like to ask the questions and look at … what it would mean for our university and for our state,” she said.

Finally, Christman and Skoglund want to create an SDSU-wide day of service.

“The connections between campus and the Brookings community are great, but we want to make it greater and make a big statement that says students want to help out the community,” Christman said. “Our vision is to work with all of the non-profit groups within Brookings.”

Christman said he and Skoglund also hope to address issues like parking, sidewalk maintenance and the Wellness Center and Performing Arts Center expansions.

“Our goal is to make sure these issues are addressed and in a timely manner,” Christman said. “However, those are platforms we share with Mark and Anthony, so to put our first three platforms out there boldly is a way to set us apart.”

Christman said that if elected, he and Skoglund will work to create more unity within SA.

“We need the strong leaders in the senate to come together in a more unified sense,” he said. “We want to start early with some training and get-togethers to get everyone acquainted and vamped up for the year.”

Skoglund said that if elected, she and Christman will work to represent the students.

“[We] understand our position is to represent over 12 thousand students,” Skoglund said. “… As we continue our growth and development, we need to maintain the student voice in the decisions that affect current students and all of our future Jackrabbits.”

Christman said students should care about what SA does and pay attention this election season.

“This is our place, we’re paying to go here, and we have the ability to change and to do great things,” he said. “We want to encourage everyone to be active, find their passions and to vote.

Voter information:

When: March 2-3, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Locations: The Union, Wellness Center, Rotunda Breezeway, Medary Commons, Animal Science Complex, Crothers Engineering Hall

Online: wix.com/sdsu_sa/sa

Vote any time on election days until 6 p.m. on March 3

Senate seats per college:

• Agriculture and Biological Sciences: 4
• Arts and Sciences: 4
• Education and Human Sciences: 3
• Engineering: 3

Mark York and Anthony Sutton plan to address meal plan prices and SA unity.

Mark York and Anthony Sutton hope to use their previous experiences on the Students’ Association to start the year strong as president and vice president.

York is a junior agronomy and math major and Sutton is a junior history and political science major.

“We decided to run around Christmas break,” Sutton said. “We had a lot of conversations about it for a long time, and we really wanted to make sure we were the right fit for SDSU. We compliment each other well and think we are the best answer for students.”

York and Sutton have three main platforms they are running on.

Sutton said their first platform is to expand the Wellness Center and the Performing Arts Center.

“We’ve looked at this year in and year out, and students are losing opportunities because we don’t have these facilities in place,” Sutton said. “If we get the PAC done we can bring in major concerts to campus rather than the Swiftel Center.”

York said the Wellness Center is in need of more space and services.

“Unless you go early it’s pretty crowded,” he said. “We also want to make sure we expand funding for student health so students don’t have to wait so long for a doctor appointment.”

Sutton said their second platform is to provide cheaper meal plans for students who live on campus, as well as expand dining hours. York said currently the cheapest meal plan available to freshman is $1,330, while the cheapest meal plan available to sophomores is $915.

“There aren’t always convenient food service hours available to service all of our students, and there are limited choices,” Sutton said. “Students want options, so let’s work with Aramark and student affairs to give them more options.”

York said they would also like to see an increase in the amount of flex dollars students can spend at the meat lab and dairy bar.

“We want students be able to spend more money at these places,” York said. “Right now you can only spend $50 per semester; we would like to see it raised to $300.”

Their last platform is for students to be able to use the Wellness Center for free during the summer.

“Currently, the Wellness Center can’t be used for free in the summer unless you are taking summer classes,” he said. “Right now it’s either $8 a day or $70 for a summer pass … Students are paying fees to support the Wellness Center, so they should be able to use it in the summer.”

Sutton said faster Internet, parking and snow removal are also issues they want to address.

“They are always concerns, but they aren’t our main platforms because there are so many individual senators who work for these issues,” he said.

York said talking to the students and hearing their opinions is a huge priority.

“We’ve been talking to students for a couple of months now and have met with 40 student organizations,” he said. “I have pages full of things students would like to see done. This is the road map and this is what we will get done because we are here to represent the students.”

York said if Sutton and he aren’t elected, they will pass on the list of student requests to the president and vice president to make sure the students’ voices are heard.

York said that if elected, Sutton and he will work to make SA a more cohesive unit.

“In the past you’ve had the executive board and then you [had] the individual senators who all run around working on their own projects and they don’t necessarily work together as much as they could,” York said. “We want to make sure that everyone is working together and making the most of the year.”

Sutton said he and York will be able to hit the ground running considering they both have senate experience. He said that no matter the outcome of the race, students will be in good hands.

“We want to work with students to be their friends, colleagues and their voice,” Sutton said. “By hearing them it allows us to be their vision. We can get started on day one because we have a lot of know how and connections. As soon as we have the opportunity, we are 110 percent the whole way.”

#1.2013099:2714096470.png:Michael-Rauenhorst.png::

SA leaders talk about the pride in being able to impact the lives of students and faculty.

The election polls are a week away from opening, which is the first step toward closing the terms of the Students’ Association’s president and vice president.

Brett Monson and Erin Kennedy served as SA president and vice president from spring 2010 to 2011.

“People keep asking me every day, “Are you ready to be done? Do you have the countdown?’ I’m not,” Kennedy said. “I’m not ready to be done seeing those people every day in that office.”

Monson is a senior agricultural education major, and Kennedy is a senior advertising major. Neither had any political experience prior to their year on Senate.

“I thought many times last spring that we were totally crazy,” Kennedy said.

Having worked together as state officers for Future Farmers of America, Kennedy asked Monson if he would like to team up once again.

Improving communication was their main campaign issue, and they got a taste of that in the beginning stages.

“The whole election itself was a cool opportunity to go meet with all the student groups,” Monson said. “Erin and I both have a passion for people, so we developed our platforms around what people wanted.”

That included student communication, along with bettering the student community and increasing student wellness.

“Communication is the foundation for any successful team,” Monson said. “That had a lot of work that needed to be in place on Senate.”

Monson said to make this happen, it’s taken more than one single project. Some of the projects include SA’s new website, a comment box and the message boards that will be seen in The Union this semester.

During the week of Jan. 17-21 SA made an effort to visit all the various student organizations to get some direct and honest feedback.

“For the first time we did a Communications Week,” Monson said. “We really tried to make means of getting out where the students are.”

In January, the Board of Regents approved a Greek Village for SDSU. Monson and Kennedy consider this to be one of their biggest accomplishments.

“It’s one of the things I’ll tell my kids about,” Kennedy said.

SA passed a resolution on Jan. 31 to poll students about banning smoking and tobacco on campus. Over the last two months the issue has caused much controversy.

“That was one thing that I don’t think any of us really saw coming,” Kennedy said.

Over the past year, Monson said that he and Kennedy tried to make decisions that they thought were best at the time.

“I think that if Erin and I had two years to have Senate experience, we would totally be doing things differently,” Monson said. “At the same time, it’s hard to regret too much.”

Kennedy and Monson’s experience on SA has had a tremendous impact on their lives.

“Previous to this year, I imagined that I would always be in the advertising world,” Kennedy said. “After this year, I almost think that I should be thinking more about student affairs.”

One of Monson’s favorite aspects of being SA president has been the opportunity to talk to so many administrators and faculty members.

“I’ve really grown to appreciate what some people do because it’s exposed us to the engines that run the school,” Monson said. “I really respect and appreciate all the work that goes into that.”

Kennedy agreed.

“I think it’s opened our eyes not to be afraid of people because of their titles,” Kennedy said.

For next year’s presidential team, the two sets of running mates are Mark York and Anthony Sutton, and Shad Christman and Maria Skoglund.

“Whoever gets elected, it’s going to be in pretty good hands,” Monson said. “You can either manage something or build it up. They both appear to be builders.”

At this point, Monson said, there is only so much preparation the candidates can do.

“Preparation for Senate begins 15 years before you get elected,” Monson said. “All your life experiences lead up to it.”

Monson advised whoever takes his position to remember who elected them.

“Make it about the students,” Monson said. “We’re servants to them.”

Kennedy agreed and stressed the importance of being wise with time.

“You only have 365 days,” Kennedy said. “Use every one of them.”

Kennedy said she feels like she and Monson “hit the ground running” and hopes the next pair can build off what they’ve started.

“We’ve been going through our bylaws and making changes,” Kennedy said. “One thing I’d like to see next year is getting more freshmen involved.”

Looking into the future, plans are not set in stone for either Monson or Kennedy.

Kennedy said. “I’m either going to go to grad school for student affairs, or I’m going to find a job. I’m actually looking in the Chicago market.”

Monson is returning to SDSU next year to student teach in the fall and then complete a couple minors in the spring. After that, he’s considering graduate school, the Peace Corps or college ministry.

Reflecting on the year, Monson said he and Kennedy have worked to “focus on the macro things, rather than the micro things.”

Impacting the lives of the students and faculty of SDSU has been the most important aspect of the job to the duo.

“Regardless of the Greek Row being passed, and message boards and all these other things that senators have worked on, the more important aspect of life is the people who are involved within it because buildings are going to last an x-amount of years, where a person’s life is something that you can’t replace,” Monson said.

#1.2013139:3428740297.png:Sarah-Ruml.png::

#1.2013083:2890747418.png:Eric-Brewer.png::