A paper chain of maroon and gold decorated presidential candidates Nicole Troester and Donovan Harwell’s table in the University Center during their first campaign event. The event had students come and write something they liked about Colorado Mesa University on a marron strip and something they wanted to change on a gold strip.

Then, Troester stapled them into loops on a growing chain—one that became almost too large to fit into its box when they packed up.

The chain and all its student concerns will hang in their office next year if Troester and Harwell win the Associated Student Government presidency.

For the two candidates, this chain is a clever way to survey students on their concerns, a principle which is at the core of their campaign slogan.

“Our campaign is threefold. We want to connect, listen and allocate, which is what the point of our biennial year is,” Troester said.

Without any experience in ASG, Troester and Harwell focused their campaign and preparation for their possible presidency around listening. Unlike the Flores-Vela campaign, Troester and Harwell don’t have any definitive projects or plans for the 2017-2018 academic year. Rather, they hope to gather data from their survey and work on student concerns.

“The stuff we do isn’t going to matter unless the students are supporting it,” Troester said.

Both Troester and Harwell feel they have many qualifications for the roles of president and vice president and take time now and next year to learn about ASG and how it runs from returning senators. Right now, the two are trying to be “comprehensive and learn from as many people as we can,” according to Harwell.

The two candidates have met with current ASG President Ben Linzey and Vice President Gabby Gile to discuss the most important aspects of the job. According to Harwell, Linzey and Gile emphasized interpersonal skills, communication and being able to “put out fires” as more important than any technical knowledge of ASG.

Troester also believes her experience as former treasurer and current president of Alpha Sigma Alpha making their budget will help her during the upcoming biennial process.

Harwell believes his campus experience outweighs what technical knowledge he has yet to learn about ASG.

“One of the biggest things we bring to the table together is just our campus experience, so like those four jobs that I’ve had on campus,” Harwell said.

In addition, both candidates have been attending the current ASG meetings to help their understanding of the process and how meetings run.

Their strength as a team relies on their interpersonal communication skills. Although both have had a variety of campus jobs and roles in different clubs on campus, they see their jobs in Vice President of Student Services John Marshall’s office as being the most beneficial.

As student assistants in student services, Troester explained they have dealt with various problems and have to have knowledge of campus and its resources.

“You’re there to support the students, but you have a wide range of stuff that deals with certain elements like crime or health,” Troester said. “We’re that ear that listens to everything and we direct them to the right resources.”

While this job experience certainly supports their emphasis on listening, it has also helped them connect with students across campus and become aware of a variety of campus concerns.

“We both know such a diverse range of student on campus, but we’ve had an experience that most people don’t get,” Troester said.

The connections that Troester and Harwell have made both on campus and in the greater Grand Junction community will help them with another campaign goal: connecting the university with its surrounding community.

[media-credit name=”Nicole Troester” align=”alignleft” width=”200″][/media-credit]

“Everyone comes to college to make connections,” Troester said. The simple sentence reflects a core value of their campaign, which is to help students become involved and engaged with CMU.

Troester believed it was important for the two to take the first steps in reaching out to students, rather than merely lecturing them about getting more involved.

Both Troester and Harwell said that their involvement with CMU—which includes multiple jobs, multiple club positions and positions in Marshall’s office—has given them a different perspective than they would have otherwise had. Involvement helped them see how the university functioned from the inside out, which they believe will be valuable if they are elected to the presidency.

Troester and Harwell are interested in meeting more students and making more connections before the election. Their campaign, as well as the Flores-Vela campaign, has several more events, listed for students in The Criterion.