Note: All candidates were asked the same questions. Answers are placed in alphabetical order and have been transcribed from audio interviews. 

Candidates: Cece Mortimer, Danny DeBock, Mickael Candelaria, Sidney McLaughlin

What’s something you want to change as a student?

Cece: I would like to change promoting… resources from Central whether it be the SMaCC or Wellness Center or just all that in general, I feel like that’s kind of been like, ‘oh, I had no idea if you had a mental health thing, you could just go to the health center and you’ll be okay.’ You know, that’s kind of the main thing that I noticed of Central that I’d like to change.

Danny: For me, one thing [that] is very apparent is the Wi-Fi, and the Wi-Fi is liquid air. And it’s been an ongoing issue. And for me, we’re going to make a plan where we’re going to work on that Wi-Fi and change it up because the Wi-Fi here is just egregious and we have to make a change. So that’s why with me as president, we’re going to come in and we’re going to make changes especially for the Wi-Fi.

Mickael: Obviously, as a student, there’s a lot of things that I want to see change at Central, but one of the things that I have personally felt really impacted me is a lack of diversity within faculty, staff and administration at Central. I’m Filipino American and I don’t necessarily see myself represented within my professors, within professional staff or administration that I work with [or] with my current position so definitely one of the things that I want to try to change is to diversify our faculty and staff.

Sidney: One of the things I would like to see changed is a better or more in-depth new student experience, kind of like an experience program that we can develop for incoming freshmen, but also transfer students just to make them feel more welcome, because I know that orientation is short. It’s only three days for freshmen and then only one day for transfer students and that’s a lot of information in such a short amount of time. I thought if we had kind of like an experience program, it wouldn’t only hold students accountable, but it would give them a chance to meet new people during their first year, especially if they’re out of state. Or even just an hour away, it would definitely make them feel like they had a better support system that they can rely on and they wouldn’t be missing home so much, just throughout the year to have them branch out a little bit. 

Also on how clubs interact with each other clubs are a huge part of Central, just the diversity that they offer, the multiculturalism that we have going on in these clubs and the more that I talk to these club members and officers, what I’ve been hearing is that they want a platform where they can interact with each other just get out what they’re doing at a certain time. There’s so many clubs and all we really have is a spreadsheet for someone to come and look and I know that that can be confusing, because a lot of the times it changes, club officers change, a lot of that information doesn’t get communicated. So if we had a platform where all these clubs could come and just post what they’re doing in one place it’d be beneficial for those club members because they could host events with each other and then also just for incoming students just a great experience for them to see everything that we have to offer. Because I know just coming in, I didn’t really know a lot about the clubs and I kind of had to know what I was looking for in order to find something versus if I had one place to go, I could see everything that’s happening, all the events that are being hosted and all the clubs and stuff like that. 

How would you be a voice for the student body? 

Cece: How I’d be a voice would be because of my involvement. I have my hand in a lot of different parts of on-campus. I’m involved with my committees and clubs and organizations. In this position, I have the ability to have a whole bunch of student input in my decisions and people can come to me about their questions, concerns. And I guess like my approachability… or how easy it is for you to see me and talk to me was something that I can use to speak for students because I’d be someone that they can easily access.

Danny: I’ll be a voice for students by looking at the entire scope essential students, it’s important to have every single dynamic represented when you’re representing the student body. So, as a leader, it’s important that every single voice is being represented in how I carry out my presidencies.

Mickael: Being a voice is super important. Next year is going to be the biggest year for that. We have the U.S. presidential elections. We’re going to recover from a global pandemic and it’s the last year in the quadrennium for S&A, services and activities funding. Being a student voice means that we are outreaching to all committees, organizations and clubs and gathering feedback from the students there and seeing what are issues, what are some ideas that they want to see implemented through ASCWU student government, but it’s also important to outreach and connect to our satellite centers to get their feedback because a lot of the times I don’t think their voices are really brought to the table when there are changes being brought up about the university.

Sidney: I kinda want to look at it as I am a conduit for the collective voices [being] the students. Yes, I do have some opinions and ideas that I myself would want to implement, but overall, I’m the collective voice of the student body and what they want… it’s my job to give them because I’m elected to represent them and all their voices. I would listen to them individually, but also on a group level a little bit. I would kind of put their needs above my own and their wants above my own. I would like to bring my own character into office, but overall, it’s definitely about what the student body wants and I would like to be the vessel that sends their ideas out there for change. 

Candidates were asked to give an on-the-spot 15 second speech summarizing their campaigns. 

Cece: I believe that my mission is to really hear student voices. Hear them out and use their feedback, what they say, and use that as a means to use my agenda and use my initiatives.

Danny: I am the DeBock. I am from an Asian mother and an American dad and together, this is going to be a goal where we reach the pinnacle of Central Washington University and that is the goal of success at CWU.

Mickael: Let’s move forward past a global pandemic, forward to a more diverse and inclusive campus, forward to a transparent leadership team. Let’s move forward together.

Sidney: Hi, my name is Sidney McLaughlin, my pronouns are she/her/hers, and I want to promote multiculturalism and diversity throughout our student campus. I want a better immersion program for incoming freshmen as well as transfer students. And overall I just want to promote what makes our campus so very special. I want to build it to accentuate what makes you guys so unique.

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Vote in the ASCWU primary May 9-12 at cwu.edu/ascwu