Student Senate ticket Impact hopes to bring ambitious changes to Ohio University

Impact is hoping to change Student Senate by bringing the focus back on the lives of students.Jordan Kelley, Impact’s presidential candidate, is serving his third term on Student Senate and is confident his fourth year will be the best if he is elected.“Every year I go into Student Senate thinking, ‘This is the year we make a change. This is the year we are going to really be there for students and work to impact their lives,’ and every year I leave thinking we didn’t do it,” Kelley said.Alexis Apparicio, Impact’s vice presidential candidate, wants to make Student Senate a known organization on campus.“When I’ve talked to students this week about Student Senate, they say they know elections are happening, but they don’t know what Student Senate does,” Apparicio said. “Making sure that we reach out to students and student organizations to let them know what our purpose is early on in the school year.”While that is one of the goals for next year, Impact stated they have begun to be a known voice already.“We’ve started contacting people right now,” said Kiera Fletcher, Impact’s candidate for treasurer. “I just talked to people from the LGBTQ Office and the Women’s Center to pick their brains on changes they want to see on campus. We are already starting to impact campus right now.”Impact wants students to feel as though members of Student Senate are just normal students.“We want to make sure that even if we are elected, that students feel comfortable talking to us as students,” Apparicio said. “We don’t want students to feel like they are talking to the president or vice president.”Regardless of whether Impact gets elected, the ticket still plans to be a part of campus life.“Most of us are student leaders in some capacity” Fletcher said. “Regardless of having the institution title or not, we still want students to know we are here to advocate for them.”Impact and UNITE share similar goals. One major difference between the two tickets, however, is the majority of Impact’s ticket has never served on Student Senate before.“UNITE is very internalized,” Apparicio said. “Both tickets have made the claim that Student Senate is disconnected from the students. We asked ourselves how is Student Senate going to be for the students if the same people are elected every year.”Impact’s executive members have all served on Student Senate. Jordan Kelley is the current University Life Commissioner, Alexis Apparicio is currently a Senator At-Large and Kiera Fletcher is the current Campus Organization Committee Chair.“We are really student focused,” Apparicio said. “We need to make sure we reach out (to) students and make sure their needs and wants are addressed.”Impact has a ticket of 19 people, compared to 37 people on the UNITE ticket. They believe their smaller ticket size allows Student Senate to have a more personal experience for students across campus.“You should vote for Impact because we are really dedicated to shifting the focus of Student Senate back to impacting the lives of students on our campus,” Kelley said.Those interested in learning more about the Impact ticket can follow it on Twitter @impact4ou or read about its platform here.