Why You Should Run in the 2021 SMUSA Election
SMUSA President and CEO, Bryn de Chastelain. Photo by SMUSA.
At one point or another, every student at Saint Mary’s University (SMU) has come across a problem on campus that they thought needed fixing. Maybe you felt that a choice made by the SMU administration was unjust, or you had to jump through hoops just to receive a simple service at the university. No matter the issue, it is hard to enact real change as a student if you do not have a platform to do so. The Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association (SMUSA) is the bridge between SMU students and the SMU administration, giving students a voice on important student issues. SMUSA is an organization that has been around for more than 50 years and is frequently involved in creating change within university operations. Moreover, SMUSA has the power to create change within Saint Mary’s that is significant and long-lasting. So, if you are a student looking to make a change at the university, or even if you are just more interested in becoming involved at SMU, you should consider running in the 2021 SMUSA Elections.
Running in an election, even at the university level, can feel like a very daunting idea. The desire to create change is often not enough on its own to motivate students to become involved with student unions, especially in leadership roles. The fear of not being qualified to take on an executive or presidential position, as well as a general lack of knowledge about how student unions operate, will prevent students from feeling as if they can successfully run in a campus election. However, the idea that any student at SMU is underqualified to run is a misconception. I was fortunate enough to interview Bryn de Chastelain, the current President and CEO of SMUSA, who spoke to this fact in describing why he thinks it is important for students to run in the upcoming election:
BC: It’s important because students have to show up to be heard! You don’t have to know everything about SMUSA or the University in order to do a good job. Every student is qualified for this position just by being a student at SMU! It’s important to talk about issues that matter and have conversations about how to make our university better!
The main idea is that having conversations, rather than having experience, is the most important aspect of being a leader within SMUSA. Hopefully, that idea should remove some of the anxiety that students may feel about running. If you have the drive to make a change within the SMU community, you already have what it takes to run for an executive or presidential position at SMUSA.
SMUSA VP External, Samantha Graham. Photo by SMUSA
I was also lucky to be able to speak with executive Samantha Graham, the Vice President External for SMUSA, about why she thinks it is important for students to run in the upcoming election. She emphasizes the importance that student advocacy holds within leadership roles at SMUSA:
SG: I believe that it's really important, especially this upcoming year, for students to run in the election or apply to be on the executive team because as 2020 has shown us, we need students to stand up for one another and to advocate for the things they care about! The student voice is so important, and in a point in time where things are changing on the daily, it’s going to be really important to have passionate voices working for their fellow students!
Wanting to run in the upcoming SMUSA election does not have to hinge entirely on a desire to better Saint Mary’s, or a passion for student government. For some members of the SMUSA executive team, such as Bryn de Chastelain, helping the SMU community is what drove them to run for his position within SMUSA:
BC: I loved working with SMUSA as a VP and I wanted to keep helping students. I started talking to some people close to me about potentially running for President and the more I talked about it, the more I realized it was what I wanted to do!
However, for other members of the executive team, it was wanting to get more involved on campus and make connections that led them to get involved with SMUSA. When asked about why she chose to run for an executive position, Samantha Graham notes how she had trouble finding her place at SMU during her first few years at the university:
SG: I decided to apply for SMUSA executive because I had been previously involved on campus, as well as with SMUSA as a pack leader and then as the Get out The Vote Coordinator and the Academic Officer. As someone who has lived in Halifax my whole life and came to SMU with my friends from high school, I did not branch out in my first few years and found it really difficult to enjoy my time when all my previous friends picked different majors than myself. As soon as I decided to get involved, I started to really enjoy being on campus, meeting new people and genuinely fell in love with SMU again!
Finding it difficult to branch out and get involved in new ways on campus is a struggle that many students at SMU have likely experienced, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling disconnected from university life can not only cause students to feel unmotivated academically, it can also take a toll on your mental health. Thus, choosing to run in the 2021 SMUSA election could be beneficial for your personal life as a student, as it would allow you to rectify your relationship with the university and feel a sense of belonging within the SMU community. For Samantha Graham, being involved with SMUSA completely changed her university experience, and made it one she would never forget:
SG: In my second year, all of my friends from high school that I came to SMU with picked majors completely different than my own and coupled with feeling like my major at the time wasn't what I loved, I felt really unsure about whether SMU was for me. However, when I saw the opportunity to join the Medical Response Team, which is a SMUSA society, I started feeling more like I belonged on campus. It was really during my time as a pack leader in my 3rd year that I truly felt like I had found my people! Additionally, through my time with the student association, I’ve been able to meet friends from student unions all across Canada that are going to be my lifelong friends! My time at SMU certainly would not have been the same without my involvement with SMUSA, and I already know I’m going to be the alumni who attends every event!
For Bryn de Chastelain, becoming a part of SMUSA also profoundly affected him personally. Though he did not speak to the fact that becoming the President and CEO of SMUSA drastically changed his university experiences, he did share that his involvement with SMUSA gave him a whole new understanding of what university life looks like at SMU:
BC: I think the biggest change from SMUSA has been my perspective on university life. Advocating for students doesn’t mean you’re going to win every case but hearing from students with different backgrounds and experiences has really changed my outlook on what leadership is. I’ve had a lot of wonderful experiences with different parts of campus but being in this role has allowed me to see the university as a whole and discover more of the great things students are doing.
Finally, it’s not just your personal life that will benefit from running in the upcoming SMUSA election. Taking on a leadership role with SMUSA serves as great professional experience, whether you are looking to go into the job force or are pursuing further education after receiving your degree from SMU. Being a SMUSA executive requires you to be responsible for a number of specified tasks and projects whilst also advocating for students on a general level. The ability to be organized and effective whilst juggling a variety of endeavours is a skill that jobs and post-secondary institutions hold in very high regard. Being involved with SMUSA also allows you to make business and leadership connections that may be beneficial to you later in your career path.
Ultimately, although many students at SMU will fear that they are not qualified to run in the 2021 SMUSA election, this could not be further from the truth. As my interviews with Bryn de Chastelain and Samantha Graham reveal, just being a student at SMU is enough to qualify you for a leadership role with SMUSA. As a SMUSA executive, not only will you be able to enact the change you want to see within the university community and help your peers, you will also reap significant personal and professional benefits. With the COVID-19 pandemic continuously hindering students’ ability to perform academically and become involved in the SMU community, it is more important than ever that SMUSA has impassioned, fresh-faced leaders to help students remain connected to and content with university life. If you think a leadership role with SMUSA would be a good fit for you, all you have to do is take the leap! For more information on how to run in the 2021 SMUSA election, make sure to visit https://www.smusa.ca/get-involved/elections/ or keep an eye on the SMU Journal’s website for continuous updates. The nomination period for election candidates stretches from February 8th to February 18th, so make sure to request a nomination from either the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) or the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) of SMUSA as soon as possible!
