As students and faculty alike prepare for the long three weeks filled with essays and mid-terms before spring break, the Oshkosh Student Association and its members prepare for a different kind of undertaking in the near future. Next week, March 8 and 9, elections will be held in Reeve Memorial Union, Blackhawk Commons, and Polk Library to determine who will be chosen to run the student government, for the next academic year, which passes referendums that affect each of the nearly 14,000 students enrolled here at UWO. The Advance-Titan reached out to the president and vice president candidates in order to discuss some of the issues the candidates wish to address, as well as some of the other experiences they feel prepare them to take the reigns as the leaders of OSA next year. Austyn Boothe OSA presidential candidate Currently in her second year at UW Oshkosh Major: Political Science Minor: Philosophy Why did you decide to run for OSA? “With having so much turnover in the executive team, we need strong leaders to take that over. I think that Maria and I are the most experienced people in OSA and I think that our leadership skills would really shine next year. Through our roles as Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore, we have lobbied in Madison, I have gone twice this year and Maria has gone once, and I was in D.C. over winter break lobbying at a national level. That experience and those connections will help the students here get their voices heard on a bigger level, not just on a campus level.” In your first few days as the elected President/Vice President combo, what would you put at the forefront of the tasks for OSA to discuss? “We would hopefully be able to tie up everything from this year; yes things will continue over onto next year, but I think the first thing we really need to do is have that open forum. Start that right away. If we start them at the beginning of the academic year next year, it will become a regular occurrence for students to know that this [is] a time where I can come and speak my mind. We obviously want to hit on our diversity, safety and sustainability issues, but by having this forum we will hopefully be able to do exactly what the students want.” What are the three most important issues which you would like OSA to address moving forward? “Our over-arching umbrella, which affects our three main issues, is that students’ voices on campus are not heard. The first way of solving that issue and addressing university concerns with them is by having monthly open forums in a super informal setting. We feel like if we have these open forums, we will be able to address our next three topics better by getting more feedback. Our first issue, in no order of importance, is diversity and inclusion. Our campus has done some great things in the area of diversity and inclusion including the campus climate study going on right now. We’re hoping that once elected we can look at that data and really work with it to make sure that students’ voices are being heard and actually make a visible change on our campus. Our next one is campus safety. We met with the new chief of police and Lt. Tarmann and both community advisors, so we have a very good working connection with the campus police already. We want to help them build on their idea of community policing by building a better sense of community on campus. We have built these connections this year so we can utilize them next year. Finally, sustainability. We know we are winning great awards [for sustainability], but how many students on campus know where the biodigestor is? This goes right back to our umbrella of getting students voices heard and we need students to want to know about these things and it is our job to present these issues in a fashion that will make people care about them.” Maria Berge OSA vice president candidate Currently in her second year at UW Oshkosh Major: Biology Emphasis: Health care Minor: Spanish Besides running for OSA president and vice president, what other activities are you two involved in on campus or in the community? “As of right now, we are both community advisors. I am also the co-founder of the ultimate Frisbee club and still work to organize events for that. I started as a representative for Stewart Hall government and am a hall government liaison currently for South Gruenhagen as well. And in OSA I am currently the Speaker Pro Tempore.” Being that OSA is a “student government that represents all students regarding issues and policies relating to academic and non-academic scores,” how would your presidency work to include students from all different walks of life? “A lot of people have a very narrow idea of what OSA actually is, so getting it out there and making it known that we are a group on campus is important. Telling people what we do, why it is important, and how it directly affects them are important for growing student participation.” Kurt Ness OSA presidential candidate Currently in his fourth year at UW Oshkosh Major: Interactive web management Why did you decide to run for OSA? “We [Shayna and I] decided to run because we wanted to see some new faces in OSA and we wanted some fresh perspective in there.” In your first few days as the elected President/Vice President combo, what would you put at the forefront of the tasks for OSA to discuss? “I will see what resolutions are trying to be passed and really get up to speed with everything that is going on in the OSA office. If we have any pending resolutions [at that time], I would see what kind of student contributions were involved in those and continue the work needed on them.” What are the three most important issues which you would like OSA to address moving forward? “Students are not aware of what OSA is. I have heard from many different people saying they don’t know what OSA is. That is a major issue to me because OSA is making and passing resolutions that affect all 14,000 students here. We can solve this problem by reaching out to students on social media and in person. If I were to be elected, I would personally go ask students what their opinions are on a certain resolution to see how the student body as a whole would feel about this. Students here have many recommendations for things they would like to see changed, so I think OSA should be asking what things students want to see changed. OSA needs more diversity, right now it is a lot of the same type of people in OSA and that will breed the same ideas for resolutions. If I am elected, I would bring in a new pair of eyes to OSA with fresh ideas from different experiences. I have been a community advisor, stage manager, an LGBTQ Resource Center intern, and I am currently the Vice President of Health and Safety for Theta Chi fraternity, Senior Odyssey Captain for new student registration and orientation, the web manager for the Advance-Titan, and I have also been involved with the Student Allocations Committee for three years now. With my experience, I will be able to bring diversity into OSA to get a fresh perspective on everything.” Shayna Beining OSA vice president candidate Currently in her fourth year at UW Oshkosh Major: Journalism Emphasis: Advertisement and public relations Besides running for OSA president and vice president, what other activities are you two involved in on campus or in the community? “I am involved in ad club, so right now I am working with Snapple and a big group of people. Since I am working with a big group of people on that project, it is really interesting working together and finding that unity and I think that will really help this campus if we can find unity.” Being that OSA is a “student government that represents all students regarding issues and policies relating to academic and non-academic scores,” how would your presidency work to include students from all different walks of life? “I think that since Kurt and I are involved in a lot of different organizations and we are very social so we can get ourselves out there and make OSA known to students. We have a lot of people supporting us, and other past presidents and vice presidents of OSA may not have gotten out there and talked with students. The most important part of this campaign is to be with the students. We are working for the students. We are all in this together.”