Annelise Stopar – Student Body President

Q: What is your platform?

A: “My platform includes three main topics that I feel are among the most important topics the 2019-2020 USG Board should focus on. Those include Inclusion, Health and Allocations.

I hope to encourage the fostering of a campus of increased collaboration, appreciation, acceptance and learning for people of all different backgrounds. Through encouraging a more diverse board of leadership on USG, I hope the board will be able to reach out and work with more organizations so everyone’s voices are heard and needs are met.

Students cannot be productive if they are not healthy both mentally and physically. Kent State can do more with providing resources for their students’ mental health and physical health. Whether it be establishing mental health statements in syllabi, increasing accessibility and awareness among the campus to mental health resources, or even implementing health education training into courses for first-year students, there are many routes we can take, that I hope to be able to within the 2019-2020 school year.

Undergraduate Student Government is the hub for student programming and allocations. I feel there is more that can be given, and more that can be done for students with the resources USG has. I would first like to increase student awareness of the resources USG offers when it comes to allocations. I would also like to widen the things allocations money can be given for. My goal with this would be to look at the possibility of creating an emergency scholarship for students to apply for if they have a financial tragedy happen that is unpredicted. I would also like to look at ways to make things like textbooks, access codes, and parking on campus cheaper for students.”

Q: Why should people vote for you?

A: “I feel I am the best candidate to vote for because I have worked during the 2018-2019 school year on initiatives that encourage and support the points of my platform. I am currently working on legislation to restructure a Director position in USG to take the role of a larger resource for organizations and services that foster diversity and inclusion. I am serving as a Co-Chair for the 2019 Larry Pollock Mental Health Summit, as well as being USG’s Kent State of Wellness Ambassador. I am working with the Office of the Provost on implementing a mental health statement into syllabi for upcoming school years. The things in my platform are continuations of what I have already been doing during my time in USG. I want to make these things happen because not only are they important to me, they are important to the lives of the students that Undergraduate Student Government serves.”

Q: What changes are you looking to enact?

A: “I am looking at changing the way USG interacts with the student body population. We are leaders, but we are serving the student body, and that should not be lost in translation. In the 2019-2020 school year, I hope to encourage service among USG. Giving back to the community through doing things like clothing and food drives, service projects at local non-profits, and even working on cleaning up the parks nearby is a great way that we as USG representatives can give back. As far as giving back to the student body, I would like to do more to get resources to the students. I am looking at the possibility of creating a “Breakfast in Bed” where USG would offer pancake breakfast delivery to students during finals week to ease the stresses of finals. I would also like to encourage USG Representatives to get more involved outside of student government to get to know more students and hear more of what we should be doing.”