Exclusive Interviews: Student Council Elections

AYUSH NOORI

“My candidacy centers on three pillars: financial equity, promoting diversity and fostering a culture of compassion. I am excited about these priorities and [will] ensure that we make progress on these three big ideas if I [am] elected President.”

“First, advocating for financial equity. I will endeavor to promote financial equity both on and off campus. This includes forming partnerships with local businesses to obtain student discounts via the OneCard Program, which will allow all students to use lion cards in town—a step towards making Exeter accessible for all.”

“I’m equally committed to promoting diversity. I will advance curricular diversity in the Courses of Instruction by creating avenues for students to provide input [on] their own courses. I believe that students from all backgrounds should be represented in the curriculum they take at Exeter and be empowered to investigate their own identity.”

“Finally, I am dedicated to fostering empathy and increasing the quality of daily student life. I hope to generate a culture of compassion on our campus through specific initiatives which include the bike share program as well as Day Student potlucks, where day students [would] bring home-cooked meals to share with the community, building relationships and strengthening the bonds between us.”

AUDREY VANDERSLICE

“The four big things I hope to focus on are mental health, student input in administrative decisions, involving students in Student Council’s mission and building community through events.”

“One of two major ways we can [improve mental health] is by working with the health center to institute fifteen-minute walk-in counseling sessions for students who have never reached out to mental health resources before in their lives, are encountering issues for the first time at Exeter, and need somewhere to turn... Another way is creating a student health website to spread awareness about mental health resources on campus.”

“For student input in administrative decisions, I’d like to form student groups to work in conjunction with administration and faculty on the creation of each of the policies—Schedule, Health, V’s. As for connecting StuCo to the student body, I think we should make use of the Committee on Community, Equity and Diversity to actively reach out to as many student groups as possible, particularly cultural and affinity groups. In order to make StuCo a resource for students, StuCo has to be informed on what issues on campus students are focusing on and trying to address so that we can support them in affecting that change in whatever way we can. I’d also like to contribute to that exchange by having a StuCo column in The Exonian. And the last part of my platform is building on community through events like a Homecoming [Dance] before Fall E/A, instituting a Spring E/A, and expanding on the bike share proposal by providing InstaBikes for InstaBite.”

MATTHEW WABUNOHA

“I’d like to make student input on things that are happening on campus more accessible to everyone, not just those on Student Council, because I understand that not everybody has the time to come to Student Council. I feel that students should have an idea of what’s going on and what’s being discussed, just so they can have a sense of some control over what is happening.”

“I want to close the gap between the administration and students, and make Student Council a resource for clubs, allowing them to feel free to come to us for whatever they may need. I want to find that sweet spot between student input and feasibility.”

“I would like to kickstart the Committee for Community, Equity, and Diversity, a new committee on Student Council. I want to set up a rapport between all the clubs and Student Council, so they feel free using it as a resource to fulfill their initiatives. I also would like to look at other schools and look at what they’re doing and connect and share ideas with them.”

THOMAS WANG

“I have some very specific ideas, including talking to small groups on campus: people who are interested or passionate about the arts and STEM or even underclassmen.”

“Of course, I am going to advocate for everything I’ve voiced. I believe very strongly about having longer hours for art studios and longer hours for the theater building.”

“This means focusing on smaller things in more specific groups. I’ve already talked about arts, so I’ll talk about science. That means creating research opportunities for them—students are very interested in more research opportunities. For underclassmen, it’s making sure that they have an EP time that works for them and allows them a study break in the middle of the week. [I want to push for a] later check-in for lowers.”

SONNY FITENI

“I stand for two main things in my running. A core belief of mine is mental health: trying to improve student mental health on campus and reduce [problems with] that. and I really draw upon my experiences of being on Mental Health Committee... My experiences on Mental Health Committee have really shaped my views on what to do and all the the research we’ve done, what we want to do to improve the health of students.”

“I think my main initiative of having a Mental Health Day to allow students to take a break when they really need it... as a given privilege, not something that needs to be requested, is something that can do a lot of good.”

“When you think about it, there’s no reason for Exeter to be as hard as it is. We can still champion a climate of academic rigor without having to ignore the support systems that could exist.”

JAQ LAI

“I really want to re-examine the way that the Deans and Principal’s Offices have dialogue about decisions that they make regarding the student body. In my experience, a lot of big decisions have been made recently with a pattern of act first, ask later... However, I do think that if students make a more active pressure  and make a more active decision to try and become a part of those conversations at earlier stages, then the people making those decisions will be open to dialogue.”

“I think that same logic can be applied to any issue on campus, whether it’s the V’s Policy, scheduling, or the new health class for returning lowers and uppers. I think it’s simply a matter of how active we are willing to be in organizing specific initiatives for students to voice their opinions.”

CHARLOTTE LISA

“I always see the value in a student government club at any school or place—a forum that’s really seeking to gauge opinion for a large body of people—and trying to capture that opinion as accurately as possible and all nuances of that opinion, all deviations. I love that work, and I know I’d enjoy myself.”

“My platform is... based off my want to increase communication between Student Council and the student body... I would like to establish formal communication between club co-heads on campus and the Executive Board of Student Council, and even, possibly, communication between those co-heads and committees on student council.”

“[I] plan to prioritize... increasing accurate communication between Student Council and the groups we represent, reaffirming students’ agency at Council, particularly those who maybe aren’t elected, who maybe aren’t select members.”

DREW SMITH

“I think what makes my platform unique is some of the ideas that I want to bring to the table, such as implementing low homework weekend once a term because currently we only have low homework weekend during [winter term], and especially during spring term when we have a long 10-week sprint to the end of the year, it’s necessary for students to have a break in between so that they can relax.”

“On top of that, one big part of my platform is about students’voices not being heard heard by the administration because currently our students’ only way of getting their voices heard is through Deans’ Council, so I want to make sure we’re rotating the people on Deans’ Council so that more people can bring up more diverse ideas through the administration and more students voices are being heard.”