Paw Party:
Mackenzie Smith and Kitanna Belnap
Hello my name is Mackenzie Smith and I would like to be your student body president.
I am currently a junior majoring in political science. I am currently a senator for the College of Arts and Letters and I have been a student ambassador for the past three years.
After a year of lackluster leadership, I believe Idaho State University needs a strong and charismatic leader who will represent every student. I hope to be that leader.
Hello my name is Kitanna Belnap and I am currently a freshman at Idaho State University in the Division of Health Professions and I would like to be your student body vice president.
Currently, I work as a student ambassador getting hands on experience with university recruiting and retention. As part of your executive branch, I would use my knowledge of the university, my recruitment experience, and my connection with the underclassmen to bring a new voice to the ASISU senate.
Our experience as student ambassadors has allowed us to know more about the history and the current condition of Idaho State than any other student.
We are also some of the most involved students on campus allowing us the knowledge of how to market to different groups and help student fall in love with Idaho State, which will increase involvement.
As your president and vice president we would work to improve club funding by working to overhaul the unpopular changes made by a previous senate.
By marketing towards marginalized student groups we hope to give them more of a voice in student issues and fight for a more active and connected student body.
This year involvement has declined and we hope to create a senate events committee to pair with the Student Activities Board and Union Programs Council (SAB and UPC) and increase funding to involvement activities. We will also advocate pairing with organizations to fundraise for improvements around campus, including new seating in the Bengal Theater or new housing furniture.
Another focus of our executive would be to increase scholarship funding while keeping tuition costs down. We will fight to make school affordable for students by advocating no tuition increase for the 2015-2016 school year.
Our opponents are advocating increasing Career Path Internship (CPI) funding for students, which we agree is a great cause. However, this year’s CPI funding rose to $1.9 million, the highest in the state, and the administration is working to increase it further.
Therefore, our opponent’s goal is already being met without their executive representation.
Also statements of advocating for a medical school at Idaho State University have been made, once again something our opponents cannot directly affect because medical school changes cannot happen in a year. Lobbying to the state board is a strong option for which Kitanna would have much more time to work on with her four years remaining at Idaho State.
Our goals are directly affected by ASISU, more beneficial to students and will better represent the needs of current and future students while bringing much needed diversity to the senate.
Please vote Smith and Belnap 2015! Go Bengals!
