Nick Larkins and Cristina Barreto are two proud UCF Knights who have recently announced their candidacy for Student Body President and Vice President. They have bright, bold ideas and are ready to lead UCF and continue to innovate and expand one of the largest universities in the nation. Nick is an Orlando native who grew up loving UCF and Cristina is setting an amazing example and breaking boundaries by being a woman in STEM and majoring in engineering. HCUCF sat down with these two candidates and asked them about their campaign goals and why they want to serve and represent UCF.
HCUCF: What leadership experience have you two had in the past at UCF that would relate to the positions that you are currently running for?
Nick: Cristina and I actually met our freshman year at an SGA mentorship council called SBPAC, or the Student Body President’s Advisory Council. We learned the inner workings of the executive branch as freshman. From there I applied to work under Cait Zona and Jarell Jones on their administration and I served last year as the Facility Safety and Transportation coordinator- I was actually the youngest cabinet member- and I oversaw things like Knight Flight and KnightLYNX and served on the University Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee. I also worked with the police department a lot and formed a great relationship with Chief Beary. Now I serve as the SGA Chief of Staff.
Cristina: Stemming from SBPAC where Nick I met Knight-Thon came in and asked people to apply for leadership roles and I applied for a role on the Executive Board. I received the position and was one of the only sophomores on the board and served as the Partnerships Director. I went out into the community and marketed the idea of supporting Knight-Thon to other companies and encouraged them to get involved. It involved a lot of delegating and working well with my manager. I also had to be creative and think of new innovative things to do. Now I’m a Greek Engagement captain this year.
HCUCF: What are some main ideas that you would like to implement on the UCF campus?
Nick: We have eight different categories to our main platform but the three that we see needing to be addressed the most are mental health first and foremost, followed by parking and then student jobs. We have a platform point to work with career services that would create a scholarship for graduates for up to one year so that they can come back to UCF and utilize the resume critiquing service or the mock interview service for free. Most students don’t realize that their resume might be sup-par or their interview skills aren’t that great until they have been denied a job and we want to change that.
Cristina: In the state of Florida for every person that graduates and receives a job within a year the university is given more funding. This would help increase funding from the state of Florida to UCF because if you graduate and don’t get a job within a year that translates negatively towards UCF. If you can graduate and find a job within a year and if Nick and I can help that process by offering this service for free then that would benefit the university. When you are in college you are busy and don’t think about it until you actually graduate and say “I need a job”, and by then all the careers services that UCF offers aren’t free anymore. So Nick and I want to do this to help students get jobs after they graduate.
Nick: If you are an engineering major within one year of graduation if you have a job in the engineering field you check as a positive tick mark for UCF. But on the same hand if you are an engineering major and you graduate and within one year you do not have a job in that field you actually are a negative score for UCF and that hurts us. And that decreases our federal funding in what is called “rising preeminence”. We can kill two birds with one stone by helping our graduates get jobs when they graduate and to increase university funding.
HCUCF: Why did you decide to come to UCF, how has being at UCF made you a leader, and why do you love to be Knight?
Cristina: I kind of came here on whim but coming here my first year I was surrounded by people who pushed me to get involved and seek every opportunity that was given to me. Honestly I truly do believe that UCF stands for opportunity and that when they say that they mean it. I’ve never been granted more opportunities in my entire life- whether it is in engineering with all the job fairs and people that they bring around to meet us or whether it is through Greek Life or Knight-Thon. Especially with engineering I feel like UCF is hub for so many amazing corporations that hire students from UCF and knowing that when I graduate that those companies want a Knight is amazing.
Nick: UCF was the only school that I applied to. I was born right here in Orlando and was actually born in the Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital. I’ve lived here my whole life I have I grew up coming to the football games back when we were called the Golden Knights and we played down at the Citrus Bowl. I’ve been a UCF fan since I was a little kid and it feels amazing to be a Knight.
*All images used with permission
For more information about Nick and Cristina’s campaign, go to nickandcristina2017.com.