With the 2019 Spring General Election coming up on March 4, Technician spoke with all of the candidates for student senate president, student body treasurer and student body chief justice.

The candidates discussed their experiences, platforms, what they would like to implement and why they deserve your vote.

Candidate for student senate president:

Mitchell Smith Moravec, a graduate student in public administration

What is your experience?

I joined Student Government in the spring of 2014. I started as a senator with the College of Engineering and basically, for the next four years, did Senate and progressively held leadership roles, all the way to serving as the Senate president for the 97th session. Then this past year, for the 98th, I served in the executive branch. I was the director of student wellness. It was a new position this year, and I absolutely enjoyed it. Ultimately, I decided to go back to the Senate for my last year at NC State and serve again in the role of Student Senate president.

What is your platform?

I am in a unique position of not only getting to serve in this role again, but also having some time since I’ve served in the role. I’ve seen to some extent how my impact was taken and how another person was able to come into the position, serve and do things differently or do things the same. It allowed me to reflect on my first time and also see how Adam [Schmidt] took on the position and corrected the mistakes I made the first time around.

I definitely want to do more with time management, also with the kind of processes we set up and fixed over the last two sessions, and enjoy the benefits of a fixed system and working forward with that.

What is one thing your predecessor did well?

When I was Senate president, Adam was the pro tempore, which was almost like the vice president of the Senate, and he was also very pro-community. He always inspired senators to work on their own passions, and I definitely saw him continue that trend with his Senate presidency. I think he did a great job of maintaining that community within the Senate and making sure all senators felt empowered to be senators and work on their issues and initiatives.

What is one thing you want to change or implement?

All throughout my time in the Senate and still to this day, I am a big proponent of processes, rules and maintaining the spirit of what our student body documents are. So coming back into this role, I want to be more intentional about the kind of processes we have, like when deadlines are, the process of setting up a meeting, when the agenda goes out and all that great stuff; basically making sure that we are staying on top of that while also being thorough, because if we are producing quality reports and agendas, they act as transition documents and allow for our sessions to be captured and recorded appropriately, so people in the future know exactly what we were doing and why we were doing it.

Way should the student body vote for you?

You should vote for me because you need to vote. Practicing your civic duty and voting in an election in any capacity is very important. I ask just to invest in me again and also invest in my academic career goals as well.

Being a graduate student in public administration, I really appreciate the nuances of what goes into governance, student governments and maintaining an organizational body. I am very excited to apply my academics to this position.

Candidate for student body treasurer:

Garrison Seitz, a first-year studying engineering

What is your experience?

This past year, I have been an engineering senator [and] was on the apportionment committee and student relations committee.

What is your platform?

I am planning to make the position more visible and accessible to everyone. Right now, the general ledger can have way more improvements so people can really understand what’s going on. I think financial communication is really key to this job.

What is one thing your predecessor did well?

Molly Mueller, the current student body treasurer, originally came in during a special election. I think she came into the processes of the student body treasurer really well. This is a very large role, and she did a great job. I feel like I can model my role after her and expand on what she did.

What is one thing you want to change or implement?

One thing I would like to change is the general ledger. I like spreadsheets a whole lot. There can be equations that can be implemented to make it more automatic than it is, because right now, it is just inputting numbers.

Why should the student body vote for you?

I think people should vote for me because I am very dedicated to everything we do. I have experience being a treasurer; I was treasurer for two years at my church, so I have been working with a general ledger. I am prepared for this job, very organized and very meticulous. I am ready for it.

Candidate for student body chief justice:

Kiera Jonson, a fourth-year studying microbiology

What is your experience?

I joined the conduct board my freshman year. I heard about it through one of my orientation leaders the summer before I joined NC State, and it sounded like something I would be very interested in, so I went through the interview process and was accepted.

I have been on the Conduct Board since my second semester of my freshman year. Throughout my time on the board, I have served as a hearing assistant and more recently, as a presiding officer. I am just looking to continue my service, because I feel like I’ve found a niche area of Student Government that I am very passionate about.

What is your platform?

Obviously, the conduct branch is very different than other areas of Student Government. We are not so much advocating change; we are assuring that the student code of conduct is being fairly applied to all possible violations. Also, that students are aware of the code, and we are doing our best to uphold NC State’s expectations of all students and faculty.

Personally, I know for me, I want to focus on making sure that we are recruiting as wide an audience as possible. I want to make sure we are getting as much student representation as possible, especially from graduate students, since we lost one of the graduate students we had on the board; so, just looking to diversify and strengthen the board overall. 

What is one thing your predecessor did well?

Jodi was wonderful at coordinating with Student Government. Also, within conduct itself, she created a lot of formal changes. Within the Student Code of Conduct, we updated information about board hearing, so that it is more formalized. We also went through with our hearing assistants and created a handbook for them, so they have additional resources to refer to other than the advisors.

I really appreciate those efforts, and I want to continue on her train of continuing with education within the board and strengthening board membership. 

What is one thing you would change or implement?

My biggest, biggest goal is recruitment, and getting our name out there. Starting over the summer, when we have freshmen come in and go through orientation, I really want to make sure the Student Code of Conduct is emphasized during orientation and that we get our name out as a part of student government.

Also, currently, Jodi and I are the only two trained on board to serve as presiding officers, and I want to see that number increase so other members of the board have greater opportunities for leadership roles and expand the knowledge we have within the board.

Why should the student body vote for you?

I am running uncontested, so there are no candidates that I can compare myself to. With that being said, I believe I have the expertise and knowledge from being on the board for so long. I am absolutely open to speaking with students if they have any questions about the code or about getting involved.

Also, I’m going to shamelessly plug recruitment for the board. If students are reading this interview and seem interested in getting involved with the conduct board, I really encourage them to check out our webpage on the Student Government website and our own website and do some exploring on their own!