KSA Election 2018: Candidates for Campus Representatives

Surrey Campus Representative

Vaibhav Agarwal
Computer and Information Systems Major

Why are you running for this position?
When I just joined [KPU] I wanted to be in some position and I want to represent and do something.

Why should students vote for you?
I’m working in a restaurant right now and I’m the manager, so I’m the kind of person who works with the employees and keeps in mind what they need.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I’ve worked in restaurants as a manager, so I thought I would be good for the position.

What would you like to see change about student politics if elected?
I know the problems faced by international students so I’d be dealing with those problems.

Akashdeep Bhullar
Major and/or Minor N/A

Why are you running for this position?
There are some things we need to change, like sports equipment, we need to get more, and more of the stuff like … athletics, not only studies, and get something more in our campus … because we only have one Tim Hortons for eating. There’s a long line up for eating.

Why should students vote for you?
Because mostly I want to benefit the people who are studying here, like international students and domestic students. And mostly we should be giving a friendly environment to the students … and [the campus is] smoke-free, so that’s a very good thing.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I am from India, and my family is from politics also, so we learned how to … be friendly with everyone. [And I could] bring it upon the table so that it could be [like] this.

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
Equipment for the games, we need more equipment, and we should be having tournaments. And library should be open late … like, 1 am. So some students who don’t have equipment to study at home, like laptops and the stuff—and [at] SFU, the libraries are open 24 hours, so we could extend our [library hours] too…. we should at least open it until 11:00 pm.

Gurpreet Singh Sabharwal
Accounting Major

Why are you running for this position?
I think that I’m the perfect candidate for Surrey campus representative because I have the confidence that if I have been selected I will have done full justice for this position.

Why should students vote for you?
I think I’m the perfect candidate and what a Surrey campus representative needs. I have that quality. I can go to the people and ask them.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
Since high school I was involved in student council activities. Moreover, I got an opportunity to lead campaigning during my college time back in India.

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
I think there should be more communication and socialisation between the student representatives and students. I observed sometimes that few students feel comfortable in telling the issues to faculty member or other concerned authorities as they are with student representatives.

Anshul Grover
Business & Computer Information Systems Major

Why are you running for this position?
I’m an international student so I’ve been here for eight months now and there has been a lot to learn here. I’ve been volunteering a lot and I’ve been involved with the international department, career services, and also the orientation team, so I just want to make my way up to it. Standing as a student representative would give me an advantage for the things I’ve seen here that I want to improve.

Why should students vote for you?
I can’t say exactly why people should vote for me. It’s their choice, right? But I’m here to create a difference if I get a chance. I’m sure I’ll make that difference noticeable.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I’ve seen a lot of people who aren’t really into the KPU society or community. They only come here for classes. There are also people who have been facing troubles with institutional fees and expenses, so I would make that better. Also, as an international student, I know how hard it is to find a place to rent, so that is something I would try to work on .

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
I’ve never actually been so much into politics here, but I would be more involved with students because a lot of people, even me, I don’t know a lot of currently elected officials. So I would be more involved in politics here and with the students to have them maybe show up more and make it more fun.

Francis Gloriani
Accounting Major

Why are you running for this position?
I’ve been in a student [finance] committee for about a year now and I thought the next step was to run for a position as a rep.

Why should students vote for you?
I have some ideas to try to implement, like trying to have better charging stations because currently we only have that singular one in Fir building, I think. So I’d like to have more students stay on campus instead of having to go home. I want to listen to more student voices instead of just focusing on the business students.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I’ve been in the finance committee for about a year and I helped with the budget we made last semester so I have a good idea of how the KSA works and how the money side of the KSA works.

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
I’m also an executive in the Kwantlen Gaming Guild. I’m their events coordinator so I’m trying to make more events happen for the clubs, but I also want more events to happen for other clubs on the Surrey campus.

Langley Campus Representative

Bilan Hassan
Anthropology Major

Why are you running for this position?
To help students across all campuses. I just want to help students in various different causes that they want to be helped with.

Why should students vote for you?
I always want to learn. Coming into the KSA, there’s things that I thought I could do and things that I realized I couldn’t do. But with the things I can do I still want to help students in terms of creating a space where they can interact with each other, create a more social environment within the different campuses.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I was a volunteer. I volunteered for both the KSA and KPU and I contributed over 200 hours, so coming into it I know trying to get people involved is very very difficult. I’ve been to different campaigns where just even asking ‘hey, would you like to help out?’ a lot of people will say ‘no.’ So knowing that, I try to change my angle on how to approach people.

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
I think I just want to see more diversity. Obviously student Council right now has very different, diverse people, but I just want to see different voices heard.

Richmond Campus Representative

Damanpreet Garcha
Marketing Management Major

Why are you running for this position?
I was so happy and excited when I won the position of Richmond Campus Representative in October. Being on the Council has been a really great experience, but there’s a lot I still need to do and want to do that I haven’t been able to in my short amount on the Council. Student life has always been my priority and I don’t want to leave the KSA until I accomplish what I said in October I would like to do.

Why should students vote for you?
I’ve been involved with the KSA since 2014 and have been the Richmond Campus Representative since October. I have the experience and the motivation to do some really awesome things for students. I really would like to work towards enhancing the student life at the Richmond Campus and be available for students to talk to.

Which experiences would you bring to this position?
I’ve been the Richmond Campus Representative since October. Rather than spending lots of time trying to learn the ropes, I would be jumping back to where I left off and maximizing my time with the KSA to hopefully do some cool things.

What would you like to change about student politics if elected?
I’ve said this since the beginning, but I’ really want to bring more student life to the KPU Richmond campus. There are other things on my list, but this will always be number one.