With elections coming to an end in the next few days, Campus has been buzzing with campaigning! For any Business and Economics students, you know that this means voting for a president for the Lazaridis Students’ Society, or LazSoc as they are now known around campus! Her Campus Laurier had the opportunity to chat with the two candidates Jerin Baby and Simon MacLeod, in order to gain more insight on their campaign, and see why they are running for President.
JERIN BABY
1) Tell Us about YourselfThese are always the hardest questions to answer, even I should probably know myself better than anyone! My name is Jerin Baby and I am a third year student striving to obtain my BBA degree! Yes, Baby is my REAL last name, maybe at the bottom of this article we can post my student ID to prove it to everyone! My hobbies include art (sketching, painting, even graphic design) I’m a proud Miami Heat fan, San Francisco 49ers fan and Blue Jays fan! I love to play basketball and soccer, I’m not a superstar but I can hold my own. I love food, who doesn’t right? I love trying new dishes and exploring new cuisines. I love to travel, but I’m a poor student, so I haven’t really done much of it! The most important thing to me is my family! Not just my parents and brother, but my entire family which includes my four crazy room-mates! People are always hating on me because I bring up the fact that I love Drake, but I mean how can you hate on the 6God? I’m usually the first one to crack a joke, that’s just my personality! I’m a very easy going person who doesn’t tend to stress out! That’s me in a nutshell!
2) What is your platform?
My platform is centred around three foundational pillars; sustainable transparency, expanding networks and an academic focus! I want to highlight the fact that a large majority of the ideas that I am bringing to light for next year aren’t my own…they are the students ideas. I took the time to sit down with a good representation of students; from 1st to 4th year, in BBA/Economics and in other faculties, teachers, professors and even the Dean of Business…anyone that would really be impacted by the Lazaridis Students’ Society. From their input, feedback and concerns I compiled a structure of the most important aspects students at this school want to see changed for next year! My philosophy isn’t telling the students what they need, rather its asking them what they need then doing everything in power to provide it! It’s who I am, it’s how my leadership style is! If you would like to read about my platform in more detail, to see the depth of my ideas, I highly encourage you to go to www.jbaby.ca! – Shout out to Scott King for making my website!
3) What would you bring to the position?
I have a lot of relevant experience! I’ve been a contributing member on LazSoc executive team for my entire duration of university. Starting of as an Events Coordinator then being re-hired as an Events Manager and now acting as the Director of Events, I have had the luxury of operating within the engagement portfolio for three years (and working with some really PRETTY girls)! I want to highlight the fact I did branch out and work in collaboration with all other portfolios and so my knowledge of how our internal structure operates is very qualified. Along with this, I think with my platform, I bring an era of change! I’ve set the bar high, and I keep preaching about setting the new standard! I want to not only move forward in a direction that YOU the students want, but I also want to propel our institution on a pedestal that is unmatched by any other! Our school is unique, nowhere else in the country will you find such a helping community filled with driven, compassionate professionals. It’s time for us to highlight our strengths and let the world know who the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics is!
SIMON MACLEOD
1) Tell Us about Yourself
Hello everyone! My name is Simon Macleod and I am very excited that HerCampus reached out to myself to do this. I am going into my fourth year and hoping to major in either Finance or Insurance and Risk Management with a minor in economics. I have been on the Lazaridis Students’ Society for the past three years and currently hold the title of Vice-President of Corporate Relations which I absolutely love. Outside of school, I have an amazing Giant Schnauzer who is possibly the most stubborn dog in the world. My little brother is in his first year at McMaster for Life Science and I think he’s loving it. I love skiing and sailing but the one sport I love to watch is college football. It’s amazing to think that the athletes who compete in college sports are doing out of the love of the game, not a paycheck. I grew up in Richmond Hill and I think that growing up in such a multicultural city has taught me how to understand the views of a wide variety of people.
2) What is your platform?
My platform consists of three main pillars: Increasing Inclusivity, Student Support, and Community Enhancement. I am going to give a quick, high-level overview of each but if any questions come up as you are reading this document please visit my website www.votesimon.ca, or find me in the Peters Building to ask me questions!
Increasing Inclusivity, I want to eliminate the stigma of “friends hiring friends”. I want the best candidate chosen for a position not ones friend as it limits opportunities for qualified students and makes the Lazaridis Students’ Society turn into a clique. LazSoc needs to integrate economics students into our activities. This begins with hiring economic students, encouraging economics alumni at our events, and making first year economic students feel welcome into our school. Finally, international students. If we as a school want to be internationally recognized, we need to start welcoming international students. Having a club fair for international students at the beginning of each semester and a welcome presentation can do wonders to make international students feel welcome, appreciated, and members of our community.
Student Support, first of all, I want to bring back the Vice-President of Academic. I want to do this to ensure there is an executive on the Lazaridis Students’ Society whose responsibility align with supporting students. A fun idea is to have a Lazaridis Students’ Discount Card. This card would have the power of roughly 6,000 students and LazSoc could really get some amazing deals! Also, there are only benefits to moving the Lazaridis Networking Gala to second semester, when companies are actually looking for students to hire. What could be done instead is having a hiring fair first semester to get employers excited to hire Lazaridis students! Finally, LazSoc has an Advisory Board but this board is appointed. I would much rather assist in the transitioning to a Board of Directors to ensure there is a governing body keeping the Lazaridis Students’ Society Vice-Presidents and President accountable for their actions and ensuring that the students are the first priority of the organization.
My last Pillar, Community Enhancement. What I have done this year is hire two Corporate Relations Specialists who act as consultants and advisors to the clubs and associations and assist them in their corporate efforts. I want to branch this idea of support off to every portfolio of LazSoc. This way we can easily transition into a supporting organization not an umbrella one. Two main points under Community Enhancement are transparency and accountability. Transparency means posting the budget online with annotations to explicitly show students where their money is going. Accountability is ensuring that first and foremost our society is here for our clubs and associations.
3) What would you bring to the position?
First and foremost I would bring experience and passion. As the only Vice-President running for President I have experience making or debating on the high-level decisions of the organization. This is not to say however that I have no experience in non-executive roles. My first position on the former SBESS was a on the Promotional Representative team, a position that was cut the year after. Due to my experiences these past three years, I have received exposure to all levels of the organization.
I also want to bring change. Change so that the society can grow and expand to be more transparent and accountable. To fulfill our mission of enhancing the experience for every Lazaridis student by providing opportunities for the students to discover and pursue their passions.
It was a pleasure learning why these two are so passionate about running! Golden Hawks be sure to make your voice heard and vote! Best of luck boys!