Who is JJM?
Johnny Srsich, Class of 2019
- Hometown: Golden, Colorado
- Major/Minors: PPP Major
- Interesting Fact: Third Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, as well as an Eagle Scout
- Favorite Thing Favorite about Xavier: The environment that encourages both academic and social development, where no one can hold you back from achieving your full potential.
- Favorite Aspect of the Platform: The sustainability aspect; The focus on fixing the compost system in the caf, or lack thereof, would make it so the leftover food will be made available to the Norwood community as a measure to try and diminish hunger and insecurity.
McKenzie Lauver, Class of 2019
- Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
- Majors/Minors: Sports Marketing Major, Business Minor
- Interesting Fact: Has a cute and loving baby (9 year old) brother
- Favorite Thing about Xavier: The community aspect. The welcoming environment makes everyone feel at home from the moment the walk on campus until well after they leave.
- Favorite aspect of your platform: The diversity and inclusion portion. Including, a provision that would make it so senators and executives would have to join different diversity and inclusion clubs (i.e. BSA, SOL, LGBTQ Alliance, etc.) making them more aware of who the student body they are serving.
Jacob Jansen, Class of 2019
- Hometown: Lexingon, Kentucky
- Major/Minors: PPP & Econ Majors
- Interesting Fact: He has two fluffy puppies
- Favorite Thing Favorite Xavier: The familiar faces. I walk through campus every day and every day I encounter a smiling familiar face. Nothing beats that.
- Favorite Aspect of the Platform: The fact that everything on our platform is accomplishable. We have working relationships with senators and administrators and because of this we can foster meaningful legislation that will help change Xavier for years to come.
How long you been putting together your platform?
Johnny: We have been working on the platform since last semester. With all 3 of us being on SGA Senate for around a year, we have seen what issues can arise from lack of communication and lack of trust between the executives. It was through experiencing this that we started putting together key issues that were either being given lacking attention or being completely overlooked and put an emphasis on those topics as we have moved forward.
What is one thing that makes you stand out from the other Exec. Campaigns?
Johnny: I’d say the biggest thing is our combined experience on the senate. Having been on senate this year, we have seen the effect of a passive senate. We have seen many of our fellow senator’s leave because of the passive nature that comes from having a lack of cohesion with the execs. Not to take anything away from the other campaigns, but they simply don’t have as much experience as we do. This is not a bad thing, but once you’re in that room, once you see everything that has to be dealt with, experience could be a key factor in getting things moving.
McKenzie: The fact that all three of us are so different from each other plays in our favor. It is true that Johnny and Jacob have the same major in PPP, but all three of us are very individual people. We each have different friend groups, we each have different areas of influence. Despite our differences though, we work really well together all in order to make Xavier an even better place than it already is.
What makes you work well as a team?
McKenzie: Our dynamic, and by that I mean how we are always communicating and on the rare occasions we disagree on something how we can always talk it through in a rational way. We are all always on the same page; to make Xavier greater than it already is.
Johnny: We also all have just really compatible personalities. We aren’t ever sad or mad with eachother. Like McKenzie said, on the rare occasions that we disagree, we can always talk about it, and about 10 or 15 minutes later we are all back on the same page often times with a new perspective that we then add on top to what we had thought before.
What’s been the most challenging part of the process?
Johnny: Definitely the last couple of weeks as we have had to start mobilizing. We know we have really great ideas, and we know we can do really good things for the school, and we weren’t taken by surprise by the campaign, but it really was more intense than we originally planned for. So having to find a way to remain active in the senate since we are still members, going to class, doing our homework, maintaining our friend groups, and on top of all that having the constant presence of the campaign was really difficult coming down the homestretch. We have been able to really manage all of those aspects I think. I mean, we lost a little sleep, but we’re able to really maintain the presence we need in the senate, as well as in the rest the aspects of our lives so that we can remain a beneficial force to the student body.
What is one aspect of your platform that could be improved?
McKenzie: The main thing I think we kind of segwayed into at the end of writing our platform, is that we are open to new ideas. I really like everything on our platform, but the biggest weakness there is that it is just the three of us. We don’t have the entire student body telling us what they want or need, so the biggest part of it is going out into the community and hearing what they have to say so we can add or adjust platform ideas.
Which aspect of your platform do you think is most beneficial to the Xavier community?
Johnny: Wow…I honestly can’t just pick one. Can I pick a couple? Our sustainability goals are one of our top priorities. The school is moving towards being totally sustainable, trying to be as ecofriendly as we can, but it’s leaving students behind on a lot of the issues. And it’s the simple stuff; it’s the refillable water bottle stations, hand dryers that actually dry your hands when you use them. Its simple stuff like that that’s kinda easy to think about, but get lost in translation. Another one is community outreach, because there is a lot of disagreements between the Norwood community and the students who live off campus. There are neighborhoods that are majority students, but there a still houses that belong to Norwood residents. In order to have less disagreements between students and residents in the future, we plan on going to hold town hall meetings, go to city hall meetings and really just improve the communication between the students and residents. We want to see what Xavier can do for the residents, so it doesn’t come off as us just invading there city and using it as our playground, we want to strive to be active members of the community as well. Student outreach is also important. We found that last year, the communication between the senate and the student body was really bad. We believe that having that dynamic back, between the senate and the students can only be beneficial.
Want more information?
Follow JJM on their social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, and read their entire platform here.
Editor Note: Regardless of who you vote for make sure to VOTE on October 25 and 26! – HCXU