Candidates Forum Fall 2017

LILAC Representative

Dorthy Feng 2021: Hi everyone I am Dorthy Feng class of 2021. Do you have any questions?

Sophia Bokhari 2020: What would you describe as one of your weaknesses?

Dorthy Feng 2021: I think one of my weaknesses is management with time, because I am occupied with too many things involving work, and my life. So sometimes I have to make decisions. I have to do better with my management with things in order to do better with other things.

Milan Fredrick 2020: Why are you running for this position?

Dorthy Feng 2021: Because personally I am very concerned with my working career after school. Currently I work with the career center for appointments already so I actually know something about how to make residence better and how to interview with your companies that you want to get hired. So, I think maybe I can help my classmates with that.

Claire Hampton 2021: What is the position?

Dorthy Feng 2021: LILAC representative

Sophia Bokhari 2020: What is your favorite fruit?

Dorothy Feng 2021: It used to be orange now its avocado.

Milan Fredrick 2020: What skills do you have that will prepare you for this position?

Dorthy Feng 2021: I was in a literary magazine when I was in high school, so I possess writing skills and I took computer science.

Sophia Bokhari 2020: What do you think is a unique quality about yourself than someone else that might run for this position?

Dorthy Feng 2021: I actually consider myself to be very well rounded, so I check out many company’s profile from careers so I can actually help people decide on their career track and other information.

Sophia Bokhari 2020: What do you think you could offer to the SGA meetings?

Dorthy Feng 2021: In order to come to the meetings, I have to put off my other meetings and activities. SO, to prepare for those meetings I would clock information from my classmates about their intended career or anything they want to know about research.

Milan Fredrick: The next position is Pensby Rep, Deborah Ekwale class of 2021.

Deborah Ekwale class of 2021: Does anyone have any questions for me?

Claire Hampton 2021: What is the Pensby Rep?

Deborah Ekwale 2021: The Pensby Rep, is actually called the office of intercultural affairs, and I will be the Pensby Rep. I talk about how the BMC community can be more inclusive.

Sophia Bokhari: What experience do you hold that makes you think you can be affective in this position?

Deborah Ekwale class 2021: I currently do not have any experience, but I feel like my background has a lot to do with it. I am an immigrant from Nigeria, and just recently I moved here two years ago. When I went to high school here I felt like people held a lot of stereotypes about me, so coming to BMC I have felt a piece of home. No one should ever have to prove that they are worthy of inclusion. I feel like BMC is very accepting and I feel like this community has exposed me to a lot of things I was sheltered from as a kid, whether it be movies, music, art and people or experiences.

Sophia Bokhari 2020: What do you hope to accomplish if you end up holding this position? Is there anything you would like to change about the BMC community?

Deborah Ekwale class 2021: As a freshman, I am not so sure about that. If I get the position I hope to learn a lot and with time I will be able to gain more knowledge.

 

Class Presidents

Milan Fredrick 2020: Will the candidates for class president please come up!

Delphine and Carly will be running together. Claire and Saskia are running together. Abigail Benz is running a one. Chloe and Yabundu are running together.

Sophia Bokhari 2020: A lot of times there is a stigma around class president, especially when you think of high school students feel they don’t do a lot. What would you do if elected to abolish this myth and what plans do you have if you are elected?

Chloe Liu and Yabundu Conteh 2021: I definitely agree with most of the stigmas around class president and when you move into freshman year these stigmas also transfer through; however, me and Yabundu may not know every nook and cranny about how BMC works as a whole yet but as freshman we want to take this and start by listening to the opinions, listen to other people. Hearing what people want to change see what can be made better and making another peoples’ experience better. I want to represent our class as a whole and that’s how we want to approach this. Listening, understanding and then taking that and going into action.

Abigail Benz 2021: to go off that I agree with the stigmas from high school about how it was often just a popularity contest at least in my case. Even though I have only been here three weeks I would want to implement a system of suggestions and office hours, so people can come to me with concerns. Listening to everyone and their different perspective can help me translate that into action.

Claire Hampton 2021: My high schools our class president did a lot and I feel like I would continue that. What I want to do at the end of the year is to host a fundraiser and raise money for one of the areas that were devastated by the multiple natural disasters. I feel like we are going to focus on small things throughout the year and then build on those, if we get elected. We will have smaller aspects of our presidency that we could build off of.

Carlie Hansen 2021: Delphine and I really want to make the class presidents available to the rest of the freshman class. We want to be a presence, and we want to be there. Part of the high school stigma is that most people just do this for their resumes, but Delphine and I really want to be there for out class, and be there for whatever challenges we face adjusting to Bryn mar. we want to be open and approachable, and be there for them when they need something.

Milan Fredrick 2020: What would be on your agenda if you won the position?

Yabundu Conteh 2021: I think one thing that Chloe and I share for being class president is that we want to be as inclusive as possible to the whole class. We both have approachable personalities and we like to branch out of the clique, we would be better able to get experiences and face any challenges that our first years may face. One example is that I was in student government at my high school and the premise of my campaign was focused on recognizing Muslim holidays, because some of them didn’t get recognized at all. Although I am not Muslim I thought that it was important for me to speak up for the underrepresented community. So, a quality both Chloe and I both have is to uplift other voices that are the minority.

Abigail Benz 2021: I think I would mainly listen to what other people’s ideas are and take other suggestions. I also think it’s important to look at current event and what is happening in the world because often times it pertains to a lot of students on campus. I would also focus on those main issues. I don’t want to be an over powering force where I just bring my ideas into it and not listen to what others have to say.

Saskia Holman 2021: so, I think the most important point I want to focus on is communication. I have heard a lot from our class about how they really value clear and direct communication especially over the summer when everyone was trying to figure out how to work Bionic and all those other programs that no one knew how to work. So, I think for us, our main goal would be to communicate frequently and affectively. But also, communication is a two ways street, so you also need to listen to members of our class, and be respectful and open, which will allow us to break down that hierarchy. Clair has a lot of experience planning events, I also do, so we are both very organized and responsible. We care a lot about giving back to our community. If people experience any natural disasters we think that could be a powerful movement as a class.

Delphine 2021: I think the most vital part of our plan is that we plan to be servant leaders and not just leaders. It is very important that we are working for you, that’s the point of us. We are not telling you what to do, it’s for you to tell us what to do. I think in this point in history we cannot afford to lose that and I think we have. That why I think it’s so important that we remind ourselves that our leaders are here to serve us and that’s our plan. We want to organize event and do stuff as a class to help us to grow and get through our freshman year. I think its important that you see us as open people that you can talk to and we can help you out. I was my high schools class president for four years and I was varsity captain for two, and this is what I have done for the past three years. I have always been helping my class to get things done, planning events for planned parenthood, DACA, and just help affect change. We are a small community, and I think that it is important that we know that we can still affect change and we can do something for someone.

AB 2021: I did go to Plenary and I obviously having Witnessed the old voting system I thought that voxvote was extremely efficient and can imagine how much that better it would be than the old system so I think definitely Continuing to use that or find other Technologies that will Aid the process is important and I know that we were well past quorum in terms of the number of people so I think that a pretty important part as well it shouldn’t just be about getting the exact number of people for votes but getting as many people’s voices and opinions heard.

?: One thing that I think was a prevalent issue with plenary and a lot of it had to do with the Freshman Class just because we hadn’t experienced plenary before but I think there was a lack of knowledge of certain parts of plenary I know that a lot of people we’re asking questions like what is Robert’s Rules and I can explain that to them but that’s me only reaching a few people and I think as a class or as class presidents we have a responsibility to communicate to the class and make sure that they are informed when they go into plenary what’s going to happen what are Robert’s Rules how does this work like anything that they could possibly need to know because not only would that make plenary more efficient but it’s more meaningful because if you go in there and you have no idea what you’re doing you don’t know what the resolutions are you don’t know what Robert’s rules are then you’re not really getting anything out of the whole experience and plenary is a big part of what makes Bryn Mawr unique and the student government and students being able to have a voice and be able to vote and so I think in the future for plenary I would just again emphasize communication and education of our class and reviewing the resolutions and asking for questions from our class members do you understand everything that’s going on do you have any questions how about what’s going to take place or what resolutions are I think what should happen is having a clear idea of the event and what’s going to happen makes plenary much more meaningful.

CH 2021: So I served as a volunteer for plenary which I thought would be a great way to kind of familiarize myself with the plenary process it was a great experience it was also very insightful two listen to the upperclassmen volunteers talk about the old plenary system and I think that all the other candidates have reiterated that implementing tutorials or information sessions about plenary prior to the event actually happening so that we do understand a little bit more about the processes of plenary Id work a little bit and conjunction with Delphine and the rest of SGA to implement such events before plenary and get acclimated to the processes and I also think that encouraging engagement is a very important part of the government process as a whole not only at plenary but at SGA Meetings throughout the year one of the SGA members during the volunteer session training yesterday talked a lot about how student Government meetings are open to everyone and how we need to really encourage people to come to SGA meeting and that’s a big part of what I want to implement as engagement between the members of the campus the SGA encouraging participation in meetings and SGA events focusing on how we can actually inform people on how SGA works.

DF 2021: So going back to the transparency point I just mentioned is very important to have the organization done before meeting happens whether it’s plenary or a general SGA meeting so it would be best if we could send out a clear what to expect for the meeting and then people can for interested can come to participate or send emails to any of the leaders were concerned about it continue more consciously.

SB 2020: So I kind of touched on this when asking about other positions as well but I just wanted to let you know that a big part of your rolls is going to be weekly as SGA meetings as Repco member so what specific motivations or values what can you bring to SGA meetings that you think would help this kind of process of decision making the happens at SGA meetings?

? 2021: I think something we could both bring to the weekly SGA meeting many different viewpoints to bring to a problem that comes up for the Bryn Mawr community something that I found in my strength Finders was the trait of responsibility and I think that ties into meetings because I think that as class presidents and important roles to be responsible for the student body and how we are portrayed to the other classes above us so definitely having our voices be heard in the sea meetings and also being cognizant the way that we are tackling a problem as opposed to being just close minded

AB 2021 I come from a very small community in Vermont and I’ve grown up with the values of being a good listener and working together and always trying to have things become inside in and one of the things that Drew me to Bryn Mawr was the same small tight-knit community and so being part of the small discussions and Leadership teams I feel like I have a whole lot of experience and therefore I feel sort of well prepared to time to SGA meetings.

Claire Hampton and Saskia Holman 2021: We think that what we would bring that would be unique to an SGA meeting would be positivity and enthusiasm and we think this because when you’re trying to creative create change there’s a lot of what can we do that is in what’s not working and instead of focusing on what’s not working we think we’ll focus on how to make things better and instead of just being focused on the issue of not really being able to get anywhere will focus on the resolution and helping the problem and we also believe that will bring inclusive tea because Saskia and I are from different friend groups and we think that this would help because with our positivity and our reach two different commute just in general from not being both like in the same dorm like in the same situations of people that will be able to bring multiple viewpoints to meeting.

Carly Hansen and Delphine McCann 2021: So Delphine and I are both student-athletes we’re both members of the soccer team so we already have to have an element of time management in order to fit and all aspects of our Bryn Mawr lives so mike has a student in classes and bouncing Classworks and finding that work-life balance we’re both skilled and time management and sewn will bring back and also our energy and passion that we have for the things that we do so whenever one of us that’s our minds on something we we always give 110% and we don’t ever put in half effort to something we’re always there and present and are willing to put in the effort. Takes to create the change that are willing to see that we want to bring that energy imbalance that’s positive mindset and to ask you some meetings to bring ideas and bringing the ideas of our peers and also to work constructively with the SGA as a whole team sports are team sports so not individual team can’t succeed based on the actions of one person it’s going to be the whole team working together and want to bring that mentality to SGA and play our part in the team.

DF 2021: If I could attend weekly meetings I would ask for my classmates opinions beforehand and present them to the SGA meeting and before that I would come up with my own Solutions in order to provide some for the SGA and as an international student I actually have some knowledge about the situation that International students are facing so I will also bring that up and communicate with all the fellow International students in order to make the this environment more acceptable and more open to all the students in the school.

 

Haverford Representative

Liv Phillips ’19: Hi, I’m Liv and I use she/her pronouns and I’m class of 2019.

Question: What do you think that your position currently does and what would you like to do to fulfill those duties and add on to them?

Answer: I think the Haverford Rep serves as an intermediary person between the two different governing bodies of the student government of Haverford and Bryn Mawr.  That’s something that I think is very important. But that’s something that I feel like we’re failing to really have a close relationship with. I know a lot of people on the student council at Haverford, I’m currently a Haverford History major, I’m on the Mock Trial team—I’m really invested in them. I’m also in a Bi-Co club and I feel like a lot of the time there’s not communication between the two different student organizations and that’s something that’s kind of worrying for me. Also, being one of the presidents of a Bi-Co club, that makes it very difficult when there’s different items that are being dispersed such as with PE credits. Bryn Mawr only gets quarter credits per semester while Haverford gets a full credit per quarter for PE club and I just don’t think that’s fair to either of our students because someone’s getting so many credits and someone’s not. I want to make sure that we can work together to have as much communication between those groups. I feel like I would be a very good person for that position.

Q: What skills do you have that you can bring to this position to help you do your job?

A: I have a Haverford college water bottle! That kind of explains who I am as a student. I more identify as a bi-college student. I’m a minor of English here at Bryn Mawr but I’m a major at Haverford so that skillset has allowed me to understand how different departments work. As I mentioned before, I’m president of a Bi-Co club and I’m the communications director of the Haverford Mock Trial club so I have really experienced being that intermediary. So, I’m kind of in charge of dealing with Bryn Mawr students on the Haverford Mock Trial team or working with Bryn Mawr students on the equestrian club. I’ve worked with faculty on both campuses and worked with being a major there. I think that’s something that we could also make easier for students because I feel like a lot of the time people don’t really understand the difference between a Haverford major and a Bryn Mawr major and enclosing the gap and making it as easy as possible. So, with these skill sets that’s what I feel like I can work on and bring to the table.

Q: Do you think you’re going to create any informational sessions and events that you host?

A: Yes, I would love that. Because I spend so much time at Haverford and not as much time here, I really want to bridge that gap and I want to make sure people feel comfortable going in to Haverford clubs or different things that are more predominantly done by Haverford. And the same with Haverford students coming to Bryn Mawr. I really want to make everyone feel welcome here. I think that’s something we can work on. I think it would be great to have some information sessions with the SGA or student council reps at Haverford coming over and having a “meet and greet” with them. Everyone can get to know one another and have that bond and communication between two people, two student governing bodies because we are part of this consortium.

Q: What’s your favorite fruit?

A: My favorite fruit is a good apple. I love them with Nutella.

Q: You mentioned having a lot of extracurricular activities. Do you think you’ll be able to balance having another and do you think you’ll be able to put enough time into fulfilling the role?

A: Yes. Even though I am extraordinarily busy, that’s what I work best at. I’m bored right now because Mock Trial isn’t in full swing, I haven’t started riding, but I have my schedule filled out so I’m very good at time management and I have blocks of time that I can dedicate to this position. Looking at the schedule and also thinking about student council at Haverford, I know I would have time. I wouldn’t run for this position if I didn’t have time. I definitely feel that I can dedicate myself to this and work hard.

Julia Moore: My name is Julia Moore, I’m class of 2021, I use she/her pronouns.

Q: What does your position do and what would you do to fulfill those duties?

A: On the website, it says the positions main purpose is to keep an open line of communication between the faculty and the students and to be a liaison to the faculty. I think I’d be good at this because I’ve done it before. I went to boarding school and I was a prefect there for the sophomore girls. I was a point of contact between the students and faculty. So, I have experience doing that and I really enjoyed it.

Q: what other qualities do you think would help you fulfill this role?

A: I like to get things done. I feel like I do best when I am productive and I really work hard to make what needs to happen, happen. So, I have a determination to get things done.

Q: Do you know anything about what the current or previous Rep to the Faculty has done and if so would you like to change anything?

A: I know very little about what has been done previously. I know that the person graduated last year so I don’t know if they started as a Faculty Rep before that year. I’d like to learn more but I have no resources to find that information.

Q: Are you doing any other extracurriculars that would make you too busy for this position?

A: I’m working for Wyndham bit that’s a 3-hour shift on Monday mornings so I think I can manage.

Q: What’s your favorite fruit?

A: Honeydew. It’s a really good melon.