In an interview on Sept. 10, student government correspondent George Burdick met with the new first-year senators: Caitlyn Crim, Danny Bottom, Autumn Stevens, Grady Smith and Haley McGill for an interview discussing their experiences campaigning, time in senate, and upcoming plans. This interview was conducted immediately after they were sworn in and participated in their first senate meeting. What follows are questions and answers from that interview, edited for clarity.
Congratulations on winning the first-year election! We’ll start with a question about that election, how was your experience campaigning?
Caitlyn Crim: “Personally, I came into this not knowing that much, because I don’t live here and I don’t know anyone here. So my strategy was just walking around Lincoln. I met a lot of the people on my floor as well, which was really cool, because it was just a nice way to connect with people and then I’d just tell people to vote.”
Autumn Stevens: “It was definitely a nerve wracking experience. I’ve personally never ran for anything or have done this before, but it was a really good experience as well. I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people on campus since we’re required to get signatures and I went around campus asking freshmen to vote. I feel like I’ve grown as a person from it.”
Danny Bottom: “Definitely stressful. I kind of got a big start on it and I enjoyed it for the most part. It was nice getting to talk to a bunch of new freshmen, putting myself out there and just getting people to notice my name while encouraging them to speak up.”
Grady Smith: “So I campaigned on my own and my strategy was not simply going to the LLC, because they’re a bunch of nerds who are already going to vote anyway! Instead I went to Lincoln Hall, where you find all the really freakishly tall dudes and you can convince them to vote for you while you’re playing Mario Kart at one in the morning. It was a good experience.”
Haley McGill: “I think the election went really well. I can say that I, Haley McGill, Grady Smith and Autumn Stevens kind of packaged ourselves together when we were campaigning. We were like, ‘hey, are you a freshman? Amazing! Vote!’ and then advertised all of our names.”
What did you think of your first Student Senate meeting, or at least the first meeting in which you had full voting and speaking power?
Caitlyn Crim: “Yes, so this was not my first senate meeting. I’ve gone to the two previous ones but it’s really cool seeing how the whole thing works and seeing all the things that go into making the school run the way it does.”
Autumn Stevens: “This also isn’t my first rodeo, I’ve gotten to see how the Senate has worked for the past couple weeks, which has been very enjoyable. Having Caitlyn by my side, sitting in the actual Senate was pretty surreal. I enjoyed placing my vote and knowing that my impact mattered.”
Danny Bottom: “Well, I wasn’t able to go to any senate meetings before this, but I have been to a rodeo! I would say that tonight was a lot of fun. It was nice knowing that my vote mattered and that I did have a say. I was not prepared to throw myself right into a position but I’m kind of glad I did.”
Grady Smith: “Yeah I didn’t go to the first meetings, and I’ve also never been to a rodeo. But, I think the meeting was great. I think instead of saying aye to vote though we should say something like ‘type [expletive],’ or use buttons or something. Also, shout out to my mom, dad, cat, grandma, grandpa, my other grandma, my other grandpa and AOC because she’s cool.”
Haley McGill: “Joining onto the bandwagon, this isn’t my first radio–it’s my second! Really, it was fun. I spoke, which was scary but I had questions because I don’t know how anything works. Fortunately they were answered very, very adequately, like seven people answered my question. That was nice, it’s a very supportive group.”
Looking ahead, are there certain issues that you hope to tackle, look into, or hope to correct this year as senators?
Caitlyn Crim: “I don’t have much experience with student government, so I really want to understand how it works and just see what’s possible from there. I’ll also be joining as much as I can.”
Danny Bottom: “Honestly, I’m just trying to get to understand more.”
Autumn Stevens: “I also haven’t done anything like this, so figuring it out is going to be the big part for me. I am excited and looking forward to diving into committees though! Hopefully I’ll work on DEI, that’d be great.”
Grady Smith: “I’d like to see greater internet connectivity around campus. That’d be really cool, working with ITS and creating a hashmap or something would be a cool solution. I also want to see more representation from males in academia, since that group is decreasing disproportionately. Like with Suicide Prevention Month, men should not be committing suicide, nor women, so let’s all work on it. Let’s all have good mental health.”
Haley McGill: “I’ve never been involved in StuCo before, but I’ve done Congress in high school, which has a pretty similar format and I was always a presiding officer in high school. I don’t have any specific Washburn concerns that I’m here to tackle but I’ve spent four years talking about different points of advocacy and this is definitely a platform where people have to listen to me. I plan on using it as a platform to advocate for the things I care about.”
Edited by Anushma Dahal and Stuti Khadka
