Hey, everyone!
My name is Mamatha Challa, and I'm currently a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. As you may or may not know, a Student Union ArtSci Fall Senate seat opened up during the summer, leaving a vacancy that needed to be filled until this November. After going through application process, I was lucky enough to get the incredible opportunity to serve in this position.
Now, as the term for this seat is ending, and I am running to continue serving as a SU Senator. This statement outlines my experience, ideas, and goals for the upcoming term.
EXPERIENCE
WashU:
In my last few months as a Senator, I have actively participated during Senate meetings, on the University Initiatives (UI) Committee, in the events of Senate Outreach Week, on Elections Committee, and on WU/FUSED. Specifically, on UI, I have been heading a new project that I will be discussing more in the “Ideas” section. All of this work has given me a strong understanding of the structure and operations of Student Union. Additionally, in August, I participated in the “Leading WashU Style” Pre-Orientation, which gave me a good understanding of the kind of staff and resources on-campus.
High school (IMSA):
Like many people on this campus, I served as Student Council President during my senior year of high school. However, unlike many high school student governments, my residential high school’s actually spent a large majority of its time working on advocating student needs and wants to the school’s fairly open-minded administration. The experience of running IMSA StudCo was absolutely invaluable, and it taught me how to collaborate with administrators and other passionate students to improve policies in areas such as academics, residential life, and general campus rules.
IDEAS
WashU Bike Share:
For the last few months, I have actively been leading a project on the University Initiatives Committee to implement a University-recognized “Bike Share” program on campus. A WashU Bike Share system would allow community members to have shared access to a certain set of bicycles that could be used as a form of one-way transportation for traveling short distances across campus. Our committee has gotten a fair amount of research done, and we are now in the stages of talking to the WashU administration about our ideas. Considering the fact that the University already has new plans to build bike-friendly pathways and generally make WashU a bike-friendly campus, I believe that this is the perfect opportunity for us to continue working hard to implement such a program. A bike sharing system would be incredibly convenient for the students, help reduce bicycle congestion on campus, and in general promote a healthy and environmentally friendly activity.
Internal Operations:
Although I’ve only spent a few months on Senate, I’ve thought of some ways that we can improve the way we work. One of the ways we can improve the internal operations of Senate is by improving the way we communicate with students who provide us with input. As of right now, most of the suggestions that we receive from students are either communicated to Senate by individual senators, or given to Senate during Senate Outreach Week. Considering all of this, I think our system is definitely open to student input. However, I think what we need to improve on is how we communicate back to the students that provide us with ideas. My proposal would be to have some sort of follow-up form that we send back to students who give us input, to let them know that their suggestions have been discussed and exactly how they are being addressed.
CONCLUSION
In the end, I believe that I am a strong candidate for this Senate position because I would provide a unique balance between my extensive experience with policy work in highschool, the few months of experience that I’ve already gained as an SU senator, and my freshman perspective of WashU and SU. Outside of that, in general, I would consider myself a fun-loving, passionate, and hard-working person. I love people, and I think I’m pretty approachable (definitely a little goofy, at the least). Once I commit myself to something, I don’t let it go, and I do my best to make things the best they can be. If you honor me with your vote, I can assure you that I will continue working my absolute hardest for SU.
Feel free to contact me at mchalla@wustl.edu if you have any more questions or ideas! J
Thanks!
-Mamatha