Throughout this campaign many people have asked me, “What made you want to run for student body president?” Simple — I am hungry to see UK, and its students, succeed.

This university has made me believe in myself.

I am motivated by the opportunity to make our students’ voices heard, and the chance to empower them so that they begin to believe in themselves, too.

UK students deserve a student body president and vice president who have a balanced grasp on our university’s needs. Evan Pulliam, who is running alongside me for vice president, currently serves SG as the Appropriations and Revenue Committee chair and is responsible for the team that allocates funding to our student organizations.

Although I currently serve SG as the assistant to the chief of staff, it is my other involvements — the Student Activities Board, DanceBlue, the Homecoming Coalition, K Crew, the Honors Program — that give me the breadth of understanding for our university needed to truly advocate for the student body. We released our vision for UK in January, but those ideas are not just from Pulliam and me.

Our diverse and established team of senators, as well as students we have met with, have had a voice in that plan. Our four pillar campus plan is a statement to our need to enact change. With a focus on maintaining current initiatives combined with unprecedented advancement, our framework is realistic and forward-thinking.

With a plan to support the Big Blue Food Pantry, to pursue free higher education test preparation and better campus handicap accessibility, we are excited to address student needs during our administration. Since deciding to run, we have met with countless peers, sat down with Lexington community leaders and focused on one of our major goals: to expand our reach from the SG office.

Many students do not know who their student representatives are, and that is a problem. But it is a fixable one.

Our solution? Oval Office 2.0, a program that sets up open office hours for us and our senators across various campus locations. By increasing accessibility, our hope is that more students will feel comfortable approaching their representatives and speaking with us.

As part of our goal for “executive accountability,” we will have progress bars on our renovated SG website, allowing students to keep us accountable for our work in office. We want to be accessible — we are students too.

Student Government needs a revitalization.

To move forward, a fresh outlook on what SG currently provides students is necessary. Pulliam and I, alongside our passionate team, are confident that we can reach our goal of an inclusive UK community where our students are heard and advocated for.

To learn more, visit us at deanpulliam2014.com and follow us on Twitter at @DeanPulliam2014.

[email protected].