Pictured above: (From left to right) Sean Schrader and running-mate Josh Rampertab discuss how they plan to enact change on the campus they have called home for years, if elected.
Courtesy of Sean Schrader and Josh Rampertab
By Sean Schrader
Josh Rampertab and I have been fortunate to call USF St. Petersburg home for the last several years. This is the first time we’ve witnessed a runoff election and we’re excited to be a part of this unique opportunity.
Student Government (SG) has often had a bad reputation for being a student organization, all in one “clique,” who don’t truly represent the needs of all students. Josh and I have heard this sentiment, both on the campaign trail and long before we made our candidacy official.
It’s easy to talk about the importance of inclusivity and ensuring every student has a voice, but those claims must be met with action. We believe what sets us apart is our experience and specific action-oriented plans to achieve inclusivity on campus. Inclusivity is such a broad subject and many initiatives fall within this area.
The St. Petersburg campus is unique in a lot of ways. A common thought among students we’ve heard from is that it mimics a country club in its beauty and accessibility. This unique atmosphere didn’t just happen, it’s taken hard work to create amenities throughout the campus that everyone can enjoy, such as the campus fountain and the waterfront.
Protecting these amenities is where there might be a challenge. However, we have a plan to promote sustainability while involving the student body in the process. Continued partnership with the Student Green Energy Fund (SGEF), the Food Recovery Club, and other environmentally focused student organizations is how we take action. For example, working with SG’s Director of Sustainable Initiatives, we want to launch a recycling campaign to help spread awareness and educate on recyclable everyday items.
Although students use many different services on campus, parking, residence halls and dining options are some of the most heavily utilized on campus. Whether you are a resident or commuter student, you likely interact with at least one of these services on a regular basis.
Throughout the campaign, we’ve received feedback about these different services and although they are serving their purpose, we’ve heard that more can be done to improve these three areas. For example, parking permits could be cheaper, more food options could be available in the dining hall and there could be faster response times to fulfill maintenance requests in residence halls.
Now, let’s be realistic, if we went by ourselves to these agencies requesting that these major changes be made, it would be very hard to get these changes done. However, the campus governor has the power to create task forces that examine different challenges on campus and suggest potential solutions.
If elected, we will create three task forces made up of students from different backgrounds to create proposed solutions and changes that should be implemented. A task force may sound boring, but this would be an exciting opportunity for students to make their voices heard, work together to solve problems and most importantly see results happen.
Although we talked about USF St. Petersburg’s amenities being unique features, another cool thing is that we are just minutes away from downtown. There’s a lot of exciting things to do there, like go to the pier, watch a movie or our personal favorite, try an ice cream shop.
However, a lot of these places are expensive and on limited student budgets it’s hard to pay for these experiences. Several years ago, SG launched “Bulls in the Burg,” an initiative that provides information on student discounts that are available throughout St. Petersburg when students show their student ID. We want to make those resources available to you, but also expand them even further. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a student movie night at AMC Sundial or a student night at the St. Pete Pier?
Every campaign season, the student body hears from candidates and learns about what they plan to do on campus. What makes our campaign unique is that we are bringing different leadership skills to one office. Serving the St. Petersburg campus in SG this year (Sean) and implementing initiatives like having former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman do a presentation on-campus, and serving in the Harborside Activities Board as president (Josh) and leading events like Movies on the Lawn, or the Homecoming Ball, is what sets us apart.
People have different opinions on how SG should work. We believe that if SG is not working for the students, then it’s failed its purpose.
If we are elected, the students are our boss, we listen to you.
