OPIRG Board Elections: Candidate Profile Questions!

It’s nearly time to vote in your OPIRG Guelph Board Elections!

Who are your candidates?

  • Luisa Lazo, student seat.
  • Daniella Mendivil, student seat.
  • Ben Stuart, student seat.

Learn more about them below! But first, some general details.

On Thursday, March 15th from 9am-5pm students and community members who are members of OPIRG are invited to come out and vote on OPIRG’s board elections. We are looking to fill 3 seats on our board and want you help in choosing them!

Elections will happen at the University Centre in the GRCGED Lounge (UC 107, on the 1st Floor past the new OVC Centennial Multipurpose Lounge).

Who Can Vote?

  • Registered Community Members (who paid the $5.00-25.00 fee)
  • All Graduate Students (unless you opted out)
  • All Full Time Undergraduate Students (unless you opted out)
  • Part Time Undergraduate Students (who have paid the opt-in $2.78 fee)

 

Students are asked to bring their student ID cards and community members are asked to bring general identification.

Luisa Lazo

  1. My name is Luisa Lazo and I am running for a student director position.
  2. For the past two years I have had the pleasure of volunteering for OPIRG both on the policy committee and as member of the Board. Through this work I have gained valuable skills in policy writing, communication and decision-making. I believe that these skills make me a strong candidate for OPIRG’s Board, as well as in its efforts to achieve greater levels of social and environmental justice.
  3. Although I have already served some time as a Board member, I am hoping to serve a full term because I feel that I still have a lot to learn about the organization and a lot to contribute!
  4. The goals I would like to see accomplished by the Board would be a of growth in the staff liaison stream (it seems like a very exciting and promising stream), an even more successful symposium than this year’s already awesome symposium, and perhaps increased Board understanding of some of the financial aspects of the organization.
    1. I believe that oppression can affect our work on social and environmental justice in many ways. For one, I believe that oppression can limit the opportunities and access that some may have in pursuing social and environmental justice. I also believe that oppressional forces can impact social and environmental justice work by causing various societal barriers that make this journey harder than it needs to be.
    2. I think that various people experience different types of oppression all over campus on a regular basis, however this is not always acknowledged. I think it would be interesting if OPIRG did work on highlighting these oppressions and how we can better change these occurrences.

Daniella Medivil

  1. Student
  2. I have experienced oppression throughout my life that I hope to work against. Aside from that, I volunteer at Cambridge Memorial Hospital with vulnerable peoples and am compassionate. Throughout my high school career, I founded a club called the “Giving Back Club” to work against social injustice through direct action, specifically volunteering. I also volunteering for Outline on campus.
  3. I want to do something that matters
  4. Spread awareness about social justice issues. Help young activists on their way to changing society. Help in some way to prevent earth’s death.
    1. It could prevent us from being heard and taken seriously.
    2. I have experience from Outline (on campus) on active listening and anti-
      LGBTQA+ oppression.

Ben Stuart

  1. I am running as a student member on the board of directors.
  2. As an active environmental and social activist in the Guelph community, I have been working closely with OPIRG for the last 3 years. I am a student organizer with Fossil Free Guelph, the local divestment campaign chapter. This experience allows me the skills and knowledge on being actively involved in community organizing, and general know how of involvement.
  3. I am running for the OPIRG board to become more involved in community engagement and to learn more about the behind the scenes of activism and organizing. I strongly believe in OPIRG’s mission statement and the values of the organization and wish to learn more about how I can apply those to my personal life and organizing within the community.
  4. The first goal I wish to see and achieve as an OPIRG board member is more student involvement. I have been privileged over the years to be involved in the amazing OPIRG community, however, many students and community members do not know about the many resources OPIRG has to offer, as well as the amazing community aspect it brings.The second goal I would like to see accomplished is more community training sessions. OPIRG has an amazing wealth of training knowledge and, many members of the student community could benefit from those trainings. Anti-Oppression training, consensus decision making, and more, could greatly affect the student life at Guelph. I think that creating training that is more accessible for all students would help increase knowledge of OPIRG as well as increase an extremely positive affect in many folks lives.The third goal I would like to see accomplished by the OPIRG board is creating strategy to make OPIRG resources (both physical, financial, and emotional) more accessible to the public. Within minimal experience in this kind of work, I believe that the board could work together to make OPIRG as accessible as possible.
    1. Oppression has a huge impact on the effect of social and environmental justice work. The resources of these kinds of organizing need to be accessible, and easy. Oppression from race, gender, class, perceived ability, and age obstructs the ability for OPIRG to provide all the amazing resources it has to offer.
    2. I remain in one of the most privileged groups in society, meaning that much of these oppressive behaviours I do not experience. However, I constantly aim to reflect on my ally-ship and continue to learn to work towards creating a community that is non oppressive as possible. The biggest part of this is recognizing space, I attempt to be conscious in the space that I take up while organizing, and while going through day to day tasks, and attempting, whenever possible, to remove myself from that space in order to create room for others while supporting those folks.