Campaign season started last week for FAU’s 2015-2016 Student Government candidates.

On Monday, candidates for the president, vice president and governor position got together with campus media and a handful of students to discuss how they want to make a difference for FAU.

For the president and vice president position, Kathryn Edmunds and Casey Martin are running unopposed. It had been announced that Chris Ferreira and Thamarrah Lacoste would also be running, but Ferriera was forced to drop out after Lacoste withdrew from the race. Ferreira will instead be running for Boca campus governor.

Besides Ferreira, the run for governor includes freshman Onur Basman. Akem Edwards had announced his candidacy, but has been disqualified after missing a mandatory candidate meeting.

Issues that concerned all candidates included, how to increase the awareness of student government and how get more students to vote.

Get a quick preview of each of the candidates below.

• -Current Boca Raton campus governor
• -Member of Phi Mu sorority
• -Elite Owl, SG “Leader of the Year”
• -Won “Women Making Waves Award”

Mission: As a member of Phi Mu, Edmunds is excited to create a connection between the Greeks, SG, and administration in order to create seamless collaboration between the three entities.

“I think that the level of experience and practice that we have makes us have the ability to take these visions that we clearly want to do, and make them a reality,” Edmunds said.

• -Current Boca Raton campus speaker of the house
• -Junior pursuing degree in history
• -Elite Owl
• -Part of FAU’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps

Mission: Martin believes that with his military training, he will be able to gain the attention of administrators to show them that he and Edmunds mean business.

“[Administration] doesn’t really take us as serious as we would like them to, so our goal is to provide them a reason to take us seriously,” stated Martin.

• -Freshman looking to pursue political science
• -Half Turkish and attended high school in Istanbul
• -Currently part of Campus Action Committee
• -Representative at the legislative branch of Student Government

Mission: Through various social media platforms such as his Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, Basman wants to help spread the word about Student Government.

“I would like to be able to contact all of my students here, my peers, my fellow Owls and make sure they come out and vote, because in the end, we are here for you guys,” said Basman.

• -Former speaker of the house
• -Standards Board Chair for Pi Kappa Phi
• -Current Ways and Means administrator
• -Founder of Motorsports Club at FAU

Mission: Ferreira believes that in  order to really connect with students, he has to work with all other candidates on the breezeway as well as in classrooms in order to create as much exposure as possible for student government.

“I want to be able to see eye to eye with advisers and trying to see why I want to do something that I think is best for students,” said Ferreira

Find out what else these candidates want to do for you and FAU at the upcoming open forum event on Feb. 19.

Upcoming Student Government Events

Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. – Open forum with candidates , location to be determined.

Feb. 24-25 – Spring election voting period opens.