Elections are now complete for the next ESS President.
This year’s elections resulted in a tie, requiring us to consult other universities and refer to/write policy to arrive at a winner. After a tie-breaking council vote, we give a huge congratulations to the 2023/2024 President, Sam Morrow!
Kevin George Mathew
Personal Description:
Hi! I’m Kevin. I’m in Software Engineering. If you know me vote for me. If you
don’t know me, you should still vote for me. I have a dream of you voting for me
and you have a dream of passing engineering. Let’s make one of them come true.
Platform:
Hi! I’m Kevin. I’m in Software Engineering. If you know me vote for me. If you
don’t know me, you should still vote for me. I have a dream of you voting for me
and you have a dream of passing engineering. Let’s make one of them come true.
Point Form Summary of Platform Description (Optional):
Hi! I’m Kevin. I’m in Software Engineering. If you know me vote for me. If you
don’t know me, you should still vote for me. I have a dream of you voting for me
and you have a dream of passing engineering. Let’s make one of them come true.
Sam Morrow
Personal Description:
I am running for President to implement my vision for an impactful, supportive, and inclusive ESS. I am a second-year Software Engineering student that has been involved with the ESS for the past 2 years. I was elected Secretary a couple weeks after arriving at UVic and served for 8 months until being elected VP External, where I am now.
As VPX, I am intimately familiar with the ESS and more than qualified to lead it. I have supported every Council role in some capacity, from organizing countless conference delegations to planning EEE to finding sponsors for Industry Night. I have been outspoken in my support for an expanded ESS and am thrilled to implement my vision as President!
Platform:
My time with the ESS has been defined by change. Despite rapidly expanding in its events, membership, and overall capacity to serve students, the ESS still operates as a modest organization with a tight-knit group of individuals at the helm. As President, my vision is to expand the ESS into a large-scale organization through student impact, organizational adaptation, and an inclusive culture.
To increase the ESS’s student impact, I have three priorities:
- Makerspace: I promise to collaborate with the faculty to fund and establish a Makerspace by and for ECS students within 6 years.
- Orientation: To promote engagement, we must get students involved ASAP. I will meet with the faculty as soon as elected to negotiate an ESS-run orientation this fall.
- ECS-Week: To continue engagement and enhance ECS culture, I will host an ECS-Week filled with fun events like a scavenger hunt and chariot racing next January.
To adapt the ESS’s organizational structure, I will:
- Finish the CSC merger by September by preparing a new constitution with Council and holding a referendum this summer, and
- Continuing our momentum by expanding volunteer opportunities for new people wanting to get involved, primarily through Orientation and E-Week leader roles.
Finally, I will promote an inclusive culture by:
- Acting in a primarily supporting role to lead the ESS Council,
- Working with the Equity Officer to identify and destroy EDI shortcomings within ECS,
- Establishing a unified vision for the future of an expanded ESS, and
- Ensuring that nobody feels or is left out.
Point Form Summary of Platform Description:
My vision is to expand the ESS into a large-scale organization.
- Increase student impact
- Fund/Establish a makerspace
- Bring back Orientation
- Establish ECS-Week
- Adapt the ESS organizationally to better serve students
- Complete CSC merger
- Expand volunteer opportunities
- Promote inclusivity within ESS culture
- Support, not dictate as President
- Identify/destroy EDI shortcomings
- Establish a unified vision
- Ensure nobody is left out
Samyukhta Prasath
Personal Description:
My name is Samyukhta Prasath and I am a second-year electrical engineering student. Through my continued involvement in the ESS as a first-year council member and as the Equity Officer, I have gained an understanding of the ESS’s processes and have been heavily involved in assessing and improving them. Like the President, I collaborate one-on-one with members when assessing and developing their roles from an EDI and sustainability perspective, so I have a strong understanding of each role’s functionality and interactions. I have built strong relationships with Faculty members and am confident to continue advocating to them on our behalf.
Platform:
My goal is to expand the ESS into an organization that truly represents and supports the entire Engineering and Computer Science undergraduate student body. This would involve making conferences, event and services more well-known and accessible to all students. Throughout the past year, I have organized surveys, created documents and planned a town-hall event to better understand the perspective of the greater ECS community and to align with them. To support this expansion, it is essential for the internal processes of the ESS to be running smoothly. Internally, my focus would be on the structure and transition of the ESS. This includes developing a meaningful, organized and helpful transition document system, fostering connections between incoming and outgoing members of each role and encouraging increased collaboration between executive members. I would organize frequent and mandatory meetings between members and myself to assess their progress, address concerns and brainstorm ideas for improvement. Furthermore, I would concentrate on properly onboarding each of the first-year council members. This would entail exposing them to the society’s processes and members, assigning them specific roles and allowing them to explore their interests within the ESS. I would attempt a more structured format in which each council member has a director loosely working under them to encourage collaboration and increase productivity. These changes would allow students involved on a smaller scale to gauge their interests and prepare them for a smooth transition to any future role, which would build a strong foundation for the future of the ESS.
Point Form Summary of Platform Description:
- Expand the ESS to be an organization representative and supportive of all students in ECS,
with a focus on integrating CSC students post-merger and incoming transfer students. - Collaborate with inter- and intra-school student societies and clubs on events,
conferences/workshops and charity fundraisers. - Restructure and reorganize the ESS, creating meaningful connections, providing useful
services and encouraging continued involvement.
Sarah Keegan
Personal Description:
Hey!! I’m Sarah, a second year BME student who loves hockey, volunteering, and attending
concerts! I am excited for my third year on the ESS council! Last year, I was the First Year
Representative, the chair & president of the First Year Council. I lead our team through
planning events and representing first year students. I am currently the Vice President Internal & Faculty of Engineering undergraduate representative. I advocate for students by meeting with faculty members and addressing concerns & implementing suggestions to improve UVic Engineering. I have represented UVic at three leadership conferences and am a member of the BMED club.
Platform:
As the ESS President, my priorities will be creating an uplifting and supportive community
for everyone in the ESS, increasing student engagement, and instilling pride in UVic
Engineering. I will create a supportive community for all students by on-boarding new &
returning ESS members in a fun, team bonding way and always being available & reachable
to talk to any student about concerns or ideas. I will use my previous experience and
connections as VPI to implement these suggestions to improve UVic Engineering. I will also
complete semesterly check-ins with all council and exec members and any other volunteers
who would like to, to figure out how I can best support them in accomplishing their role and
personal goals within the ESS and focus on building up and defining the priorities of newer
roles. I will increase student engagement by helping to plan and host focused events that
students want to see and by creating support groups, encouraging the newsletter, and
increasing on-campus presence of the ESS. My experience as FYR in hosting both in person and asynchronous events will allow me to easily assist the VP events. I will instill pride and belonging in UVic engineering by bringing back engineering culture (in a safe, EDI
appropriate method), creating opportunities for people of minorities (women, bipoc, lgbtq+…)
to connect with each other and for all students to connect with industry and faculty, and fostering teamwork between all levels of the ESS so that everyone knows that they are
supported and appreciated.
Point Form Summary of Platform Description:
- Creating an uplifting & supportive community within the ESS
- Being available to all students
- Check-ins with volunteers
- Team building on-boarding of members
- Increasing student engagement
- Focused student suggested events
- Support groups
- Newsletter
- Increasing ESS on-campus
- Pride in UVic Engineering
- Engineering culture
- Opportunities for minorities to connect with each other
- Creating student-faculty & student-industry connection opportunities
- Teamwork between all levels of the ESS