Sydney Bend and Joe Sigwarth are running for Student Senate president and vice president for the 2015-16 academic year with the campaign slogan, “Your Voice, Your Vote.”
Bend, a junior media studies major with an emphasis in public relations and minor in journalism, is running for Student Senate president. After college, Bend said that she wants to be a publicist or work for a public relations firm and represent those clients.
“[As Student Senate president,] I would be working with Joe [Sigwarth] and upping the face of Student Senate to get students involved,” Bend said. “That is what I would be doing as a publicist; getting more people to approve of their clients.”
Bend is the director of marketing and engagement for Student Senate. She also had experience as Student Senate president in high school and other extracurricular activities.
“I was part of the FFA growing up, and 4H, and the main thing they teach you is leadership,” Bend said.
Sigwarth, a junior business administration major triple-emphasizing in marketing, management and human resource management, is running for Student Senate vice-president. Sigwarth stated that he would like to do project management in future careers.
After serving as Student Senate President for a year and a half, Sigwarth has decided to switch it up, saying that “quite honestly, senate needs a new face.”
“I am running for vice president because of Sydney, I would not have run for a ticket position if it hadn’t been for someone I trusted running as president,” Sigwarth said. “I was always planning on going back and being on the executive board, but when the opportunity came up to be VP again with Sydney, I jumped at the opportunity.”
In addition, Sigwarth said that he is stepping down in order to have more time to apply for jobs and work on graduating as a senior.
Aside from Student Senate president, Sigwarth has also worked with start-ups developing programs and restructured the hiring process of the Executive Board.
Bend and Sigwarth are focusing on three major platforms during elections: accessibility, accountability and education.
“I think that I would bring education by making sure that the students were informed,” Bend said. “As a freshman and sophomore, I was pretty uniformed about Student Senate and how my voice worked and why things even mattered. So I want students to know that we are here to be their voice.”
Bend and Sigwarth would achieve this by going to hall council meetings and different organizations frequently to keep them updated on what Student Senate is doing. This way, they could hear what people having been noticing around campus.
“I encourage them to vote,” Bend said.

Facebook: Sydney and Joe for Student Senate
Twitter: @BendSigwarth
Website: http://bendsigwarth2015.weebly.com/

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Hannah Corcoran and Leonard Ballosh are write-in candidates for Student Senate president and vice president for the 2015-16 academic year.
Corcoran, running for Student Senate president, is a senior Spanish education major who plans on teaching high school Spanish after college or working with groups to lobby for education reason.
Corcoran, is currently a senator for the college of Liberal Arts and Education and chief of staff for Student Senate. She also has experience working as a secretary for UW System Representatives.
“I have done a lot of work at the state level, which is really important for a president to do,” Corcoran said. “[It is important] to have those connections with the state, to be able to figure out how to make those connections, set up meetings and operate at a bigger level.”
Ballosh, running for Student Senate vice president, is a sophomore political science major double minoring in international studies and journalism. After college, he plans to spend a few years working in the field of journalism before going to law school.
If elected as Student Senate vice-president, Ballosh stated that it would help him with his future career because he would learn more about parliamentary procedure, a common method for conducting meetings used by businesses and governing bodies. Experience in parliamentary procedure would especially be of use in litigation, helping with cases and learning to be unbiased and look at the facts.
Ballosh has experience as Vice President of Programming for Sigma Phi Epsilon in which he organizes committees and assists with communications aspects.
One project that they plan to work on if elected is updating the current case works policy.
“The program is pretty weak and pretty flawed, and I think that it is something that could be really valuable to students if we make it more accessible and make it easier for everyone to understand one, that we have it, and two, what it’s there for,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran stated that together they would reach out to groups and organizations to create better communication, and create a cohesive student body.
“We would bring a new face, new perspective, new ideas,” Ballosh said. “I’m not saying the current administration isn’t getting stuff done but with a new face we can bring new ideas that maybe [Joe] Sigwarth never thought of before.”
In order to vote for Corcoran and Ballosh during the elections April 8 through April 10, it will be required to type in their names under “write-in.” The ballots must be written as “Hannah Corcoran and Leonard Ballosh” in order to be accepted as a vote.
“At the end of the day, we just really want people to get out and vote and be active in their student government,” Corcoran said.

Facebook: Hannah and Leonard for Student Senate
Website: http://corcoranballosh15.weebly.com