Editor’s Note: Changed voting to closing at 5 p.m.
Associated Student Government (ASG) has begun their campaigns for the President and Vice President, who take office in Fall 2022. Voting opens on April 11 , and goes through the 15, closing at 5 p.m.
Presidential candidate Cy Shimamura is the current Director of the Cultural Inclusion Council, which is made up of a few different student organizations including the Ho’olokahi Polynesian Student Alliance, Black Student Alliance and Genders and Sexualities Alliance, among others. Vice Presidential candidate Jason Hunter is the Production Manager at campus radio station KMSA and also serves in the ASG House.
Shimamura is from Kailua, Oahu in Hawaii. Currently majoring in Business Management, Shimamura has also served as the Minority Senator for two years and makes a point to stay active on campus.
“I had a great mentor my freshman year, his name is Bo Flores. He really mentored me to take on a leadership role […] I personally feel like I wanted to reciprocate the favor,” Shimamura said about helping other students.
Hunter, a Business Marketing major going into his fifth year at CMU. Growing up in College Park, Georgia, with 6 siblings, Hunter is also a part of the Theta Xi fraternity after joining his freshman year, although he hasn’t been active as a brother the entire time.
“I’ve always wanted to be in some type of role in ASG. […] I felt like I could kind of be a voice for the masses and do my part on campus. I thought it’d just be a great opportunity to help and lead people,” Hunter said.
Shimamura and Hunter are running on a platform that has four pillars: Transparency and honesty, Encouraging, Consulting and Availability. Transparency focuses on making the actions of ASG accessible, Encouraging focuses on helping out both students and organization collaboration, while Consulting and Availability represent communication and interaction with students.
“I feel like my whole life I’ve always been a leader, like I’ve always had to lead whether I wanted to or not. I say either you’re a silver spoon kid or you’re a scrapper. I really had to scrap, fight to be where I’m at today and be able to lead and be in a position to be Vice President,” Hunter said. “It means the world to me to where I’m at today and in the business.”
Another big part of their presidential goals is to foster collaboration between student clubs and organizations, to boost student involvement. Shimamura grew up in a close-knit community, with a sense of family among them. He credits that to making him into the person he is today. Originally, Shimamura didn’t want a leadership position during his start at CMU.
“Being here, and having that deep family connection just made me want to stay here all four years and keep continuing to lead,” Shimamura said.
A focus for their administration would involve both the Presidential Cabinet, where student leaders on campus meet, as well as interacting with students on campus.
“One of the things we want to do is build a very strong Presidential Cabinet, appointed members from student leaders on campus. […] We really want to make sure we’re doing that. And we’re meeting with clubs, meeting with organizations, meeting with students, being interactive, showing our face on campus as much as we can, so people know us. When they have an idea, a question, a comment, a concern, they’re able to come to us and feel hey, it’s just my friend, you know, it’s just a conversation. That’s one of the big things is just being available, people knowing us, and changing the existing ideas of ASG,” Hunter said.
“I’d like to reach out to students and make sure they have a family here at CMU,” Shimamura said.
