MATT THOMPSON and EVAN PAPPAS, staff reporters

President:

Bryan Elliott

After considering various positions, Bryan Elliott made the decision to run for the President’s Office of the BOD.

Currently the VP for Equity and Community Affairs, Bryan Elliott says his role on the BOD has helped him realize that he could be most useful as the President.

“I felt that I really could be most effective and I could do the most amount of good for the most amount of students by running for the office of the President,” Elliott said.

The opportunity to represent the entire student body and craft his own agenda are part of why Elliot wants to run for President. He feels it would be the best position to use his experiences to better the university.

Elliott has been involved with the Student Senate for over a year as a general senator and an executive senator, which is how he first got into student government.

He is familiar with the academic issues on campus and has worked on several initiatives, such as the Semester Conversion Focus Group.

Elliott has also had the experience of working on the BOD already, as the VP for Equity and Community Affairs.

“Being the Chair of the Equity and Services Council, being able to communicate and connect with the students who traditionally have been underrepresented on campus, I think that’s been a really important experience for me,” Elliott said.

Some of the aspects of what Elliott feels are important for the role of president include building and maintaining strong relationships and fiscal responsibility.

“When we’re representing student interests, we should do so in a manner, and you know, whether it’s with the faculty, or the administration, or the community, we should so in a manner that builds relationships and doesn’t burn bridges,” Elliott said. “I think that’s really important to remember.”

Some students may be apathetic toward the BOD and feel that they don’t get things done, but Elliott really wants to change that perception, and if he is elected president, he will work to change that.

“I want to make students aware of the BOD and what we do, and I want them to know that we’re on their side and we can get things done for them,” Elliott said.

Philip Rush

When he first came to Central, Philip Rush became involved with various clubs on campus and since then he has run two clubs.

He got involved with the BOD, where he works as an insurance coordinator for Mary Orthmann, the VP of Clubs and Organizations.

His work in the BOD was what sparked his desire to run for president.

“I saw a lot of things that were being done right, and I saw a lot of things that I think can be changed for the better, and I want an opportunity to enact some positive change for next year and on the good stuff just keep the ball rolling on it,” Rush said.

Rush feels that his club leadership experience makes him a qualified candidate for the position. The work he has done has helped him learn to work with the students.

“I’ve done lots of club leadership stuff, run clubs, I’ve helped start quite a few clubs on campus, I’m a good event coordinator, I’ve planned a ton of events for various clubs and organizations outside of clubs,” Rush said.

When President Gaudino’s bonus came around, Philip was on the side of the students who didn’t agree with it.

But though his work in the BOD, he has learned a lot from the administrative perspective and hopes to improve communication between the two sides.

“I’ve been on the active student side of issues and this year I’ve been insurance coordinator, so I’ve been on the administration side of issues, so I can kind of understand where both sides are coming from and as BOD president work as a mediator between the two,” Rush said.

A strong work ethic is one of the things that Rush feels makes him a strong candidate.

Working to prevent the majority of clubs going into bad standing like last year is something the Rush is proud of.

“I want the BOD office to be more personable, and for people to be able to just go up there when they have an issue and be able to talk to people in the office,” Rush said. “I think I’d be a good candidate for that because I feel that people can talk to me frankly about whatever issues they have.”

VP for Legislative Affairs

Cassie Dubore

Cassie DuBore may be running unopposed in this year’s Board of Directors’ elections, but she won’t let the lack of competition stifle her passion.

“I truly do care, and if I didn’t think that I would do the best job at the position then I wouldn’t run,” DuBore, a sophomore political science major, said.

DuBore spent last year working as the program director for Brianne Wood in the Office for Legislative Affairs.

While there, DuBore was part of the formation of the election assistance center and Washington State Lobby Day.

Although there was an impressive student turn out for voting in last year’s general election, DuBore sees room for improvement.

“I really want to civically engage this campus,” DuBore said. “There is a lot of voter apathy and I want to make voting easy for college students and I want to make it fun.”

One of the responsibilities the VP for legislative affairs must fulfill is to sit as the chairperson for Central’s chapter of the Washington Student Association.

Increasing the number of those involved in WSA is a goal DuBore has set for herself if she wins the election.

“A lot of people don’t know what the Washington Student Association is and how big of an impact it can have on our state,” DuBore said. “If we can grow our chapter here, it can get more people involved and it can open doors not only for them but for our school as well.”

Although there is not a general election this year, DuBore sees this year to be vital for students and the cost of college tuition.

“It’s important for students to vote, because they need to vote for somebody they know will have their back when it comes to tuition,” DuBore said.

When DuBore isn’t working in the BOD office, studying, or drilling for Air Force ROTC, there’s a chance she is rocking out to Def Leppard or the Scorpions.

“I go to a lot of concerts,” DuBore said. “Classic rock is my absolute favorite; I’m a huge rocker.”

Jacob Wittman

Jacob Wittman is an active person. Despite classes and working two jobs, you can find him playing basketball or football.

Naturally, running unopposed for the executive vice president position on the BOD has left his thirst for competition unquenched.

“I do wish I were running against some one because I think it would be fun, to be honest,” Wittman, a junior law and justice major,  said. “I’m almost disappointed because I wish there were more students that did want to run for these type of positions.”

Even though Wittman has no formal leadership experience, he believes his will to change the school for the better is a quality all leaders must possess.

“Students are always talking about wanting to see a change and discussing current problems in this school,” Wittman said. “I decided that instead of just talking about it that I could run for a position and oversee those changes myself.”

Wittman believes the experience he has from economics classes and paying for his own schooling, car and housing has prepared him for this responsibility.

“I think that experience shows that I can manage a budget because I’m working my way through a lot stuff that people my age wouldn’t be able to get through,” Wittman said.

Following the auditor’s review of the admin fee, Wittman sees the BOD has lost credibilty in the eyes of the student body.

“I want to gain the trust of the students back,” Wittman said. “There’s been mismanaged funds in the past and I want to ensure that there will be a complete transparency with their funds as well as maintaining a high level of fiscal responsibility.”

Wittman is a student who not only delivers mail for University Mail Service, but also works with paralegals and court cases at Bushá Law Offices.

An important role of the executive VP is to keep track of, but not necessarily manage, the budgets of the various BOD offices.

VP for Clubs and Organizations

Mary Orthman

After spending three years working within the BOD office, Mary Orthmann, the current VP for Clubs and Organizations, has decided to run for the office again this year.

“I have a lot of great ideas that really needed a lot of work this year, and I feel like I will be able to implement them next year,” Orthman said.

Orthman has experience working on the BOD. which has helped her build relationships with people in the BOD, administration, the Board of Trustees and more.

If re-elected, Orthman wants to reduce time spent on paperwork and increase the time with students and organizations.

“Being more involved in the clubs and going to the meetings and going to different sanctions of Student Life, going to RHA, going to SAS meetings, just being more involved and not being so focused on paperwork,” Orthman said.

Her work on the BOD has culminated in projects like the clubs recognition process going online, club recognition in the spring, and an increase in the budget for Club Senate.

Going forward, Orthman has projects in works that she wants to continue.

“Make Club Senate more enjoyable and not just a meeting that they want to get over, make it more interesting, have more speakers come in and let students be aware of different things that are going on in the legislature or on campus,” Orthman said.

Helping the students learn more about the different events and clubs on campus and helping them get involved is one of Mary’s goals that she is eager to continue if re-elected.

“I really am here to work for them; I am a representative and a resource for students to be able to experience as much as they can in their stay here at Central Washington University,” Orthman said.

For Orthman, working on the BOD has been a great experience, and she hopes the BOD working relationships will continue in the future.

“I really enjoyed working with a lot of the students and a lot of the clubs and I’d like to keep that relationship going.” Orthman said.

Kaleb Berg

Kaleb Berg may not have experience in the BOD office but he does have a long resume of clubs that he has been a member of.

“[Clubs are] where I met most of the people I hang out with on a day-to-day basis,” Berg, a junior physics, said. “It showed me how important they are to student life. At least for me I know I wouldn’t have anybody to hang out with without them.”

Berg has a lot of goals he would like ot accomplish, if elected as VP for Clubs and Organizations.

One of his goals is to create an event much like the job fair, where clubs and organizations on campus can come together and recruit interested students.

“Clubs don’t do a lot of advertising to current students and people that go to this school that aren’t new and I’d like to fix that,” Berg said. “I’d like to see people reaching out to all students for their clubs.”

Another task Berg would like to accomplish is to find a way to partition Club Senate’s budget into quarters as to avoid overspending in some quarters and under spending in others.

“One of the big things I want to look at is we ran out of money for club senate this year really early on, like before the beginning of spring quarter, and I wan to find a way to not have that happen,” Berg said.

Berg is currently involved in Trading Card Game Club, Gamers Enjoying Each others’ Company, and Central Gaming Initiative.

“I see all these people on campus, not just freshmen, who aren’t involved in clubs and I just wonder what they could be missing out on,” Berg said.

Berg has participated in said clubs, and he is the current vice president of GEEC as well as the former club senator for the Saxophone Club.

“I enjoy leadership roles and I feel like that is something I’ve had strength with throughout my life,” Berg said. “So I have a background of doing stuff like that and I think that’s what helped me prepare.”