Pictured Above: Abbas and Kelly said they owe much of their marketing success to social media since many classes across all three campuses remain online.
Courtesy of @risewithjandj on Instagram
By Molly Ryan
The second consolidated Student Government election came to an end when Jaida Abbas and Jennifer Kelly were announced as the next president and vice president.
“I don’t think there are adequate words to describe (winning),” Abbas said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest. “I’m very much still in shock.”
While the results were announced on March 12, the exact voting numbers have not been made final by the Election Rules Commission.
Since many classes are still being held online across all three campuses, Abbas and Kelly credit much of their marketing success to social media.
The two ran against fellow USF Tampa students Julia Cunningham and Jillian Wilson who campaigned with their “Green Together, Gold Forever” platform – promising to move the university toward 100 percent green energy.
Abbas and Kelly campaigned with RISE, an acronym that stands for “respond to the disparities of the pandemic,” “integrate new resources,” “strengthen the student body” and “empower students to rebuild.” Under each letter are five specific initiatives that they plan to implement in their term.
Abbas and Kelly both agreed that the most pressing issue in their RISE platform was the “R” – “responding to the disparities of the pandemic.”
“We know that (the disparities) are most timely because they’re… consistently being perpetuated by this pandemic that we’re currently in right now,” Abbas said.
According to the campaign’s website, a plan of action under the “R” category is the “Bulls Support Bulls” initiative; the initiative will, “Advocate for state funding to revamp and expand the food pantry on all campuses.”
“This is only the beginning,” Kelly said. “I just want the student body to know that we really are committed, and we put so much thought and time into everything that we put out there with all of our initiatives and we really are inspired and focused on getting all of it done.”
For more information on Abbas and Kelly’s initiatives, visit risewithjandj.com.
