Hey, I’m Laura Robinson, and today were sitting down with Team Ocean candidates for
university student council President and Vice President, thanks for joining us guys.
Thanks for having us
How’s the campaigning going so far?
It’s been awesome so far, its really great to see how many people are engaged with our
booth and how many people are engaged with the election in general and I hope to see
a lot more engagement in the days to come
I can add to that.
You know, looking at these elections as a student, is so different from being in the
election.
I think now we can really appreciate how much work the other slates who have run before us have
put in so its almost a humbling experience to kind of be in it, its a cool opportunity.
Okay, well with that, first question what does the best student experience look like
to Team Ocean?
I think that at the end of the day, the best student experience involves making sure that
everyone on our campus is happy, making sure that every student feels like there is an
opportunity outside the classroom to kind of learn, university is great because you
get to learn stuff, but it should also be one of the most fun parts of your life so
I think thats what we want the student experience to kind of look like.
Awesome, so speaking of the student experience, mental health support is an incredible indispensable
resource on campus, especially with #BellLetsTalk coming up next week, its really in the spotlight,
mental health is really on the forefront right now, what would your presidency do to reshape
student wellness?
So we’ve tackled a lot of different ideas in our platform in regards to mental health,
anywhere from academic accommodation to additional support to sophs, who are the core bridge
between our resources and our first years and they really need to be taken care of.
We are looking forward to implementing proactive approaches from guided mindfulness that is
already offered on campus and allowing accessibility to that service on a universal level on our
campus.
And just generally helping students understand that there are services on campus and there
are ways to cope and helping them realize that breathing is a great way to tackle the
anxiety and stress that is brought up by our experience here at Western.
And also with #BellLetsTalk coming up next week I think something thats important to
realize is that #BellLetsTalk is awesome but lets talk every single day about mental health
Awesome.
Alright so the next question is if you are elected, what would be the first mandate that
you would implement?
What do you see as most pressing
I think that the first thing we want to make sure occurs is with the first students that
arrive on campus and thats with their sophing community.
I believe that we need better support for our sophs and we outline that in our platform.
You know having some social worker available at the Wellness Education Centre, and that
soph care station so making sure our sophs are really being taken care of because they
are, i’ve been a soph three times at Western, they really are what drive the student experience at Western.
So mental wellness would be one of your first initiatives
I just want to highlight that a lot of students aren’t aware that our job starts in the
summer and I recently got asked a similar question and I really want to emphasize that
every single aspect of our platform is on there because we want it to happen and were
going to take advantage of our summer here at Western to work as hard as possible so
that by the time students are back in September, every single aspect of our platform is either
implemented or in the process of being brought.
Awesome, good to hear.
So next question, were going to talk homecoming for a moment, what is your take on the ever
controversial move of the date of homecoming?
Students want to know
I lived right off of Broughdale until this year, so I was devastated, we chose that area of
London specifically because of homecoming because of how amazing the experience is.
Ive had friends visit from pretty much every university in the area, just for hoco and
it is something I will be passionately looking for a way to bring back.
But I will definitely work with administration to make sure the days that we do choose to
party on Broughdale whether it is the recognized hoco or the foco, is properly taken care of
by our municipality and our administration.
So making sure students are safe?
I think at the end of the day students at Western are very passionate about school spirit
and so the administration may have changed the hoco date but I dont think thats going
to stop students from having a bit of fun , but as your as USC execs, our priority next
year is making sure students are safe.
Whether thats handing out water bottles.
whether thats having programming on campus, where we can have our eyes on the students,
just making sure their safe.
Okay, so last question, what do you like most about Team Pratt/Changs platform?
They have a lot of similar points in terms of headlines I think they took a lot of effort
into their mental health idea and into the titles and pillars, we sort of align in terms
of the kinda of services Western needs to offer students.
If Rav has anything in specific…
I really do appreciate the fact that there are points that we agree on there are clear
issues on campus and at Western that the student body faces and we agree on them, we disagree
on how we want to tackle those issues and thats totally fine, thats what this process
is all about but at the end of the day whoever gets elected into the USC offices, I know
me and Danny had this conversation, and I’m sure he agrees still and we all agree in this
race, we want voter turnout to be high.
we want students to vote and we want them to be part of the democratic process
Some solidarity among candidates
Right, so were going to move into our speed round now, Im going to give you two options
and you both just have to choose one, quick.
Boxers or Briefs
Boxers
Briefs
Spoke bagels, jalepeno cheddar or mushroom swiss?
jalepeno cheddar
mushroom swiss
Oh my god, out of the way man
Ceeps or Frogs?
Ceeps Frogs
Tobi or Landon?
Tobin
Tobin?
Interesting you have to pick one
No I can’t do this
I have to choose the slate
Next one, just in times sake, getting attached by a Western goose or falling into the Thames?
Thames, you get to swim, Ocean loves to swim, then you shower and you’re clean
Im not hugging you
Lets go with getting attacked by a goose
Awesome well thank you so much guys, Western, don’t forget to vote, February 5th and 6th
at westernvotes.com
Thank you again