Ladies, the FUSA Presidential Election starts tomorrow, and we couldn’t be more excited that our very own Jennie Toutoulis is running for President along with her running mate Meghan Jackson for VP! Our girls Jennie and Meghan have the passion, drive, and dedication, and are truly #girlbosses inside and out! We couldn’t be prouder of you two.
Here’s the 411 about their campaign and a little bit about why they are such great FUSA candidates.
Jennie– Running for President
Major: Communications
Minor: Public Relations
Involvement: Former Editor in Chief of Her Campus Fairfield, Director of Marketing and PR for FUSA, Writer for Spoon University published in Food Network and USA Today, One of the Crew Captains of Love Your Melon Fairfield, Campus Ministry, Intramural Volleyball
Meghan– Running for VP
Major: Accounting and International Business
Minor: Modern Language Studies
Involvement: Intern for Graduate and International Student Life, NSL, Academic Intern for New Student Programs, Eucharistic Minister, Accounting Club, FUSA Senator, COSO, Tour Guide
Why are you girls running for FUSA President and Vice President?
Jennie- “Ever since my first year, I saw myself in office and in that position. I had very close relationships with our past presidents who guided me and were mentors and friends. They always had open ears for every question that I had…which were a lot haha. I was always just really super involved, and it’s something that we are really passionate about, and we feel like we have the resources and personalities and ability to make changes, big and small.”
Meghan- “We have seen both sides of the table now, and the information that we gathered with our years of being student leaders have led us to realize that Jennie and I have always had the goals, drive, and ideas. This has been a long time in the making for us, and we are really excited for what happens.”
Jennie- “We were Jennie and Meghan before this, and we are going to be Jennie and Meghan after this, whatever happens. This was a friendship founded on FUSA. We came together in the space where this organization wants to make a change and be there for the massive student body.”
What experience prepared you for this role?
Jennie- “Combined we have been on 4 out 7 FUSA boards. I started on programming, served two years there, and then accepted the offer to be the Director of Marketing and Public Relations from skills that I have learned in the real world and applying them here at Fairfield’s student government. It’s been a challenge, but super rewarding.”
Meghan – “I was on Senate my first and sophomore years, got a lot of work done, and enjoyed my time there, but I did not think that I could do the position justice because I was abroad. Now I’m on COSO and get to see the club involvement side of it.”
If elected what are you looking to improve in the Fairfield community?
Meghan- “We are not going to make some wild promise that we can’t keep. We are not going to promise some insane artist for Red Sea Madness and run on that platform. We have these attainable goals that we believe that we can achieve within one academic year. We want to make sure that the student body gets the most out of these next four years.”
Jennie- “The first goal which is long term, and that we want to lay the groundwork for. This is a block of time that clubs could meet, and there are no classes, and all members can be present and not meeting at 10 at night. Being a student leader, a student, an active one at that, is so valuable, and all of that resume experience you can’t replace. It should not make you exhausted, affect your mental health, and your GPA shouldn’t suffer. For our short term goals, we want to improve the conversation around mental health. It is getting started, but it’s so hard, important, and relevant.”
Meghan- “Last year on Senate, myself and Brendan Hunt, who graduated this past year, created a bill that would implement a common dialogue that professors would include on syllabi with the resources, and we will work with you.”
Jennie- “Transparency has come up a lot in the past years for FUSA. If you look at our campaign, we are nothing but transparent. We have been posting every single day, and we launched our website yesterday. We love getting feedback from the people we know, but we want to hear from the people we don’t know. We want to be open ears and friendly faces for each and every Stag.”
Meghan and Jennie – “We want to hold office hours outside the FUSA office, so maybe by Einstein’s. That way students feel comfortable, and we are more approachable. The office is a very welcoming place and very inclusive, but we just want to be more accessible.”
What excites you the most about becoming President and Vice President?
Jennie- “I think when you see two girls running, it’s easy to compare us to all of the other girl duos, and they have been such an inspiration to us, but we want to be the first Jennie and Meghan.”
Meghan and Jennie- “We are campaigning on a platform that has elements to it that has not been seen by FUSA before. For example, we have the idea of being able to have an Instagram live stream and make a vlog for the Red Sea Madness planning process. I’ll post a vlog and tell you what’s going on because you guys deserve that. This is your experience and home as well. It makes my heart so warm. We started here our first years, and now we are running for president. It’s really surreal, and to be able to do it with Meg is the coolest thing ever!”
Good Luck Jennie and Meg! Click here to check out their website to learn more about their ~amazing~ campaign! The Polls are open 8 p.m. tomorrow and close Tuesday, February 26th at 5:30! Go and vote on OrgSync, Collegiettes!