ESS Elections 2021 – Candidates

Welcome to the campaign period of the 2021 ESS Elections for the council positions! Below you will find the candidates who are running for each position. You can find more information on the election process, including the timeline and information on how to vote here.

You can find a recording of the Candidates’ Debate here.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Eric, our Chief Returning Officer, at empower @ uvic.ca!

VP Student Life

Candidate: Arianne O’Hara

My name is Arianne O’Hara, and I am completing my third year of Electrical Engineering. I am detail-oriented, analytical, and good at problem-solving. When I started at UVic, I knew almost nothing about the ESS. It took me months to walk into the office and learn what the ESS does. I don’t want that to happen to any more new students.

Platform:

Did you know the ESS has its own store? Probably not. I didn’t know for the longest time. We have our own store! We need to increase awareness and grow our community. I am running for VP of Student Life to nurture our community in two ways:

First, we need to reach more first and second year students by holding an engineering-specific Welcome Week each year. We know the UVSS won’t look after the needs of first year engineering students. I will make this a reality and the time to start is now! No excuses!

My second goal is to develop more ESS merch. The ESS jackets look amazing. I absolutely love the new logo and want to see it on more items. I will make available new, affordable ESS merch, which will increase the sense of community among engineering students.

Candidate: Avni Salhotra

 

I enjoy spending time with people and enjoy organizing events. For example, I started the Friday night game night on the discord server and it had since then continued on several Friday nights. Similarly, I called for the spicy noodle challenge. I thrive in a social environment and believe having a good experience while in university is very important.

Platform:

I would want to host events on a bi-weekly basis. They can be as simple as food challenges, movie night, game night but also collaboration evens with clubs on campus to cover a diverse range of interests of my fellow classmates.

Candidate: Russell Waterhouse

I’m Russell, I’m a fourth year SENG student, and I am currently the VP communications for the ESS. In thisposition, I have led the charge on rebuilding the website after it failed early in my term. I have also assembled a newsletter team, and led other smallerprojects, such as editing the council introduction video and rebuilding the digital exam bank. I also helped with a lot of projects that weren’t directly related to my position, but helped the ESS, such as the order of pi fundraiser.

Platform:

I see manygreat opportunities for projects in the VP Student life role, but here are my top 3:

1. I plan to scan the entire ESS exam bank and put them on the website.
2. Once courses are back in person and it is safe to do so, I plan to hold weekly ESS social nights where we keep the office open late, bring in snacks and soda (and maybe slushies, I did run the machine for a semester before COVID) and have activities like board games, video games, jackbox games, etc. I think that after all the isolation during the pandemic, the students would really appreciate a chance for some socialization.
3. Help to renovate the office and games area to make it more inviting to the students. I feel like the area outside of the office has a lot of potential for a casual hangout spot and I think there would be time to work on it over the summer before reopening.

In addition to this, I would help with other projects like charity events and first year orientation, even if they aren’t directly under the VP Student life role description. I think that these things are important to both students and the community. Of course, I wouldn’t take on anything that would make me sacrifice the main VP student Life responsibilities such as merch orders, club funding, and organizing clubs day.

Equity Officer

Candidate: Kali Erickson

Hello everyone, my name is Kali Erickson. I am a second-year software engineering student and a team lead for the Vikelabs club for a Discord bot development project. I am passionate about diversity in engineering and technology and excited to be running for ESS Equity Officer. This position would allow me to use my knowledge of ESS policy and structure from my semesterly position as Council Secretary and my year of experience advocating for my fellow students as the SENG Student Representative to continue the progress of the ESS in creating a diverse and supportive community.

Platform:

As the ESS Equity Officer I would like to focus on increasing accessibility to, and therefore diversity in, Engineering at UVic by ensuring that female, non-binary, and other under-represented prospective students are aware of and excited about the opportunities available for them at UVic and in the engineering industry.

This position would allow me to continue to develop policy and an action plan for a Director of Outreach semesterly council position. The intention of this role is:

• to organize events aimed to instill an interest in Engineering in K-12 and continuing education students

• to inform future students about opportunities and supports available to assist them academically, financially and otherwise, and;

• to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in Engineering to prospective students.

As the Equity Officer I would have the opportunity to work with clubs like LTD and WECS, as well as the faculty, to promote policy like this and to continue finding new ways to create inclusive and safe environments for all engineering students.

VP Communications

Candidate: Viktor Stefanov Sarnev

I am a second-year Software Engineering student that has been working as Chief Newsletter Editor for
two terms at the ESS, and enjoy programming, graphic design, UAV flight, and video games.

Platform:

My goal as VP Comms is to not only improve on what the previous VP Comms has developed, but to also
provide a seamless job of communication between all connected roles. I also wish to employ my skills in
programming and graphic design to keep all ESS services looking sleek, modern, and at the quality expected
at such an operating level.

VP Corporate Relations

Candidate: Jeremy Guido

Before returning to school for engineering I worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years. During that time, I managed wineries, yacht clubs, and golf courses. This gave me the opportunities to meet high profile clients and develop working relations with them that extended beyond the kitchen. Since leaving the industry I have used these transferable skills to develop valuable contacts within the engineering profession. In my spare time I enjoy solving twisty puzzles, working in my garden, and playing games with my kid.

Platform:

My goals would be to continue reaching out to the local engineering community to create a better working relationship between students and employers. Over the course of last year, I have been working with groups like EGBC, and local companies to procure sponsorship for charities. Going forward I would like to continue working with engineering companies to prepare for eventual face-to-face meetings and arrange opportunities for students and employers to network in a meaningful way.

VP Events

Candidate: Eilä Hanson-Leith

Hi everyone, my name is Eilä Hanson-Leith and I’m a second-year civil engineering student. I am excited to be running for VP of Events. I am currently the undergraduate student representative for the Civil Engineering Department. I am also currently involved with the ESS, as the VP of sponsorship for AGMR 2022. I am a new member of the UVIC Renewable Energy Club and I am currently on co-op with Science Venture, a non-profit organization run through UVIC’s Faculty of Engineering. With this experience, I want to provide our engineering community with valuable and fun events as we transition back onto campus!

Becoming involved with the ESS I have seen the dedication and hard work that goes into creating fun and welcoming events for the engineering faculty, but I think we can reach even more students and continue to grow UVIC’s engineering community. If elected, I will continue organizing exciting events, but I would like to also introduce more industry focused skill and networking events. Among working to create an amazing UVIC Engineering culture, I want to connect students so that we can better reach our career goals. Some of my main goals include:

• Building excitement around the engineering community: working with the ESS to establish a First Year Orientation that’s fun for all engineering students and connecting students with similar interests and passions, bringing the engineering discord hobby channels to life!
• Introducing events focused on mentorship and mentee opportunities, essentially answering the question of “how can we as peers learn from each other to develop our skills and networking?”
• Using student life initiatives and events to bridge the divide between years and disciplines, as well as help students transition back to-in person courses.

We’ve missed out on valuable events and time together as an engineering community and I want to start off the next year running! Overall, I want your input! While the ESS and engineering faculty has many opportunities for students, many go unnoticed or unutilized. How can we make events more accessible, what do you think your academic and student life is lacking in terms of fun?!

VP External

Candidate: Abdulrahman Abuelazm

Hi, I am Abdul, the current Engineering Students’ Society Vice-President External. I am looking to continue being your VP External for the next year. Outside of my role with the ESS, I am a third-year electrical engineering student, a member of the ECS Discord moderation team, and an active member of the UVic Engineering community. Over the past year, I have used the External portfolio to bring a plan forward for orientation, raise thousands of dollars for charity, and bring all types of engineering students to regional and national conferences. For 2021-2022, vote for Abdul to be your new VPX.

Platform:

When I am elected, I plan to focus on solidifying the External portfolio. As the VP External right now, I have seen every part of this position and have seen the impact it can have on students. My first step will be to expand our partnerships with other universities to share ideas and work together on specific events. This year alone, I managed to work with the University of Manitoba on Orientation plans as well as working with the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students to raise money for charity through the Order of Pi.

My next priority will be to make conferences more accessible to students. The ESS sends students to six conferences a year and the students that end up attending learn so much and develop great skills in vast topics like leadership and professional development. The problem arises when we can only send a handful of students to each conference leaving a lot of students without access to that knowledge gained at conferences. I plan to arrange new ways for the VP External to spread this information with the help of the delegates attending.

Finally, I want to focus on turning the University of Victoria Engineering Competition into a larger event, with more sponsors and industry participation. I have worked extensively with our VP Corporate Relations this year to build up great local connections with industry and acquire funding from larger-scale organizations like EGBC. A larger UVEC means a better chance to showcase your skills. 

VP Finance

Candidate: Jordan Gough

My name is Jordan Gough and I’m a 4th year Civil Engineering Student. I have previously been the VP External and the Director of Corporate Relations for the ESS.  I have had some experience managing finances in the past, such as when I ran the University of Victoria Engineering Competition during my time as VP External. In addition to this, I’ve been interested in finance on a personal level for a few years now, and have been tracking and categorizing my own expenses.

Platform:

As VP Finance, I want to increase the financial transparency of the ESS. Currently, students can only see how the ESS is spending their student fees once per semester when the budgets are presented. I would make available to the student body lists of major expenditures that the ESS makes bi-semesterly, or possibly more often depending on the volume of expenses. 

During my term, I also want to increase the amount of money that the ESS spends on events that benefit the largest portion of the student body. To accomplish this, I will work with the VP Corporate Relations to pursue alternate revenue streams as well as looking through the budget to find areas where money can be reallocated from.

Another objective I want to accomplish is to build an online ESS merch store. Students can only see most of our merch offerings by physically coming into the ESS, which can be inconvenient especially during the pandemic when the office is closed.

The final goal that I have is to overhaul the accounting methods that the ESS uses. Most of the financial management of the ESS is currently done through spreadsheets on google drive, and I think it’s time that the ESS makes the transition to proper accounting software. This will help track finances better to ensure accountability and transparency.

VP Internal

Candidate: Alexandra Boucher-Carter

Hi, I’m Alexandra! I’m a fourth year Biomedical Engineering student. I’ve been sitting on the ESS Council for two years, and had the honour to serve as your president this past year. While this year wasn’t what we expected, our team was able to run online events and plan for future semesters. Currently, I am chairing WESST’s AGMR 2022, a conference UVic will be hosting next fall. I am excited to shift my focus to planning the best AGMR possible, and building faculty relations as VP internal. In my spare time I like yoga, hiking, cooking, and binging trashy reality TV.

Platform:

During my time as President, I was able to build strong relationships with the faculty. I would like to use these bonds as VP internal to further communicate student interests, and strengthen the relationship between the faculty and the ESS. I would also like to promote the importance of a strong student community. My main focuses for this year will be:

• The return of first-year orientation, with inclusion of other year students for relationship building;

• The return of monthly meetings with the coop office to relay information on the student experience;

• Communicating the benefits of recorded lectures and open-book exams to the faculty, as demonstrated through online learning;

• Support the First year rep and first year council to hold first year events;

• Hold more review seminars for large courses;

• Prioritize student academic complaints, and advocate on behalf of students to professors;

• Help build exam prep and tutoring resources for students.

With all these in mind, I want to be an approachable resource to students. Students should be aware they can come to us with their issues, and that we will support them as much as we can. If elected as VP internal, please reach out to me with your questions, concerns, and ideas!