CCSS General Election Platforms

Written By: Tiffany Lau

The CCSS Elections for 2022-2023 have begun! We’re excited to announce that we have 8 candidates running for positions on the Board of Directors.

The Candidates are:

President:

Matthew MacRae-Bovell

Vice President:

Forest Anderson
Patrick Ene
(Candidate Withdrew) Sarah Ali
Shirley Zhan

Director of Finance:

Fahim Ali
Victor Li

Director of Academics:

Amelie Haefele

Director of Social:

Aaditya Chopra (Adi)

Director of Community:

None

The Campaign Platforms:

Matthew MacRae-Bovell - President

Hey There, I’m Matthew! I’m a four-time elected CCSS executive and your current Director of Academics.

On behalf of the CCSS this year, I hosted over 20 events, organized some of our largest initiatives such as Carleton Dev Day, and delivered several projects to students such as DiscreteMath.ca. If elected, I will push the organization towards making an even greater impact on students while laying the foundations of success for the next generations of executives.

A Safe Transition back to In-person 🏡
Having been an executive before the pandemic, I can help ensure a smooth return to on-campus operations. If the university deems it safe and regulations are lifted, we will begin the revival of our in-person services and events, while ensuring all COVID-19 guidelines and protocols are met.
Hybrid In-person and Online Community 💻
Before the pandemic, the CCSS significantly lacked ways for students on co-op work terms or off-campus to engage with our community. If elected, I vow to utilize a hybrid approach with both in-person and online activity to ensure our members not currently on campus do not feel disconnected even with a transition back to in-person.
A Modernized Brand Identity 🎨
An organization’s identity unquestionably has a direct impact on engagement. If elected, I will push for the creation of an updated identity and logo that resonates with our values and mission as an organization.
Expansion of Development Initiatives ⚒️
As the current development lead, I plan to continue the growth of our existing development initiatives, while taking on more projects that directly impact students similar to the likeness of DiscreteMath.ca.
More ways to get Involved ❤️
If elected, I will ensure there is a wider variety of ways to be involved with the organization. Currently, we offer term-based volunteer opportunities and elected positions with the minimum commitment of an entire year. I will push for more flexible ways of being involved for those who do not have the bandwidth to take on a high commitment position.
More Asynchronous Resources 💡
Although a significant portion of the organization’s output comes from our events, this year we’ve seen just how large the impact of online resources such as DiscreteMath.ca and courses.carletoncomputerscience.ca have had on our student body. I will be pushing for a greater focus on content similar to the projects mentioned above.
CCSS Office Hours 💼
As President, I will make myself available via Discord or our in-person lounge on a regular “office hours” type schedule as a means for our members to quickly learn about how they can get involved with our community.
Organizational Resilience 🏛️
The CCSS as an organization is very volatile to large generational handovers. This volatility directly impacts our yearly budget, relationship with the department, and the consistency of services we offer. My goal this year is to introduce and lay the groundwork for a more scalable team structure that future generations of executives can continue to use to increase our organizational resilience.

Forest Anderson - Vice President

Hi, I’m Forest!

I’m a 4th year student in the Game Development stream. I’m also Carleton’s Github Campus Expert; one of fewer than 10 in Canada. I’m a big advocate of open source development, primarily as a core developer of Veloren. Finally, I’m a contributor to the Rust language, where I focus on the community as a lead of the CTCFT team and the gamedev working group.

As the Vice President of the Carleton Computer Science Society, I would focus on empowering the other members of the board. As a previous exec of several years, I want to share what I’ve learned with the future leaders of computer science at Carleton. In my opinion, the society thrives most when board members help one another, and I want to play that support role for the team.

I’ve worked on several projects over the last few years, such as Discretemath.ca, and a hackathon to supplement first-year content. As VP of the society, I’ll work on creating a better foundation for these open source projects so that students can continue to maintain them after their original developers graduate.

I have a lot more to share about myself and my platform, feel free to read more here: https://www.notion.so/4da7b23599254ef6853f6e7b33f97201

I’m excited for the 2022-2023 school year!

Patrick Ene - Vice President

Hi everyone. My name is Patrick Ene and I’m running to be your next CCSS Vice President!

Firstly, a little about me. I am an international student from Nigeria and I’m also in the Game Dev stream. I generally enjoy spending my free time practicing with my guitar, listening to music, or playing video games (Apex anyone?).
I am considered outgoing and amiable. I am also a forward thinker and very goal-oriented.

I am running to be the vice president because I have always believed in contributing when you can and “passing through the school”. Due to that, I want to be able to use my accrued skills, leadership qualities, and experience to improve the student life of computer science students via the CCSS. You may be wondering what experiences I am referring to. To name a few, I have been able to serve as:

Public Relations Officer for Carleton University Nigerian Students’ Association
Faculty of Science councilor for CUSA
Vice President Finance for Carleton University Nigerian Students’ Association
Administrative Director for Black Student Alliance
President of Carleton University Nigerian Students’ Association
As well as volunteering in various service centres and offices across campus

Having had these experiences on campus, I have improved myself and plan on using that to give back to the community. Some of the skills/qualities I gained during these periods are time management, effective communication, event planning & execution, and adaptability to name a few.

If elected as vice president, some of the things I hope to achieve/advocate for include:

Promoting focus on mental and overall wellness amongst members as Computer Science can be a very tasking program
Creating an environment where new and older students can feel welcome and engage with events and fellow students
Continue the optimization of access to resources
Promote inclusion and intersectionality in all initiatives

If you have any questions concerning me or my manifesto feel free to reach out to me on IG @thisispatrick.e or on Discord at Diskrete#2644

(Candidate Withdrew) Sarah Ali - Vice President

Shirley Zhan - Vice President

I think that CCSS is a wonderful organization that has brought a lot of wonderful joy to my life. It has supported many CS students through its various social and academic events. I myself have also had some experience organizing events and it was a very enjoyable experience.

As vice president, I will be sure to help organize the members and make sure the events flow well and are on schedule. My highschool years of experience as secretary and vice president will definitely aid me.

On top of that, once I am elected, I will bring my passion into the CCSS and organize some really fun and unique events. One example of this is creative coding. Creative coding is essentially combining art and computer science. It’s a wonderful field and I have already did a workshop on it during my time as a first year rep on the CCSS. If you’re into generative art, kaleidoscope art, or flow fields, then get ready for the events for creative coding that will come your way.

Furthermore, I also will provide some events to help you all who need last minute studying or prepping with study sessions. These study sessions will help you go through course content and make sure those stressful 3am-caffine-overdose-sleep-deprived sessions are not so awful.

If you’ve read up to here. Thank you and I want you to know that you did not waste your very precious time. Give your important vote to me and I’ll make sure to become a great vice president.

Fahim Ali - Director of Finance

I would like to run for the Director of Finance because it’s a great opportunity for me to improve my current skills and give back to the computer science community. Ever since I came to Carleton I wanted to be as involved in the community as I could. Additionally, I’m well qualified for this position given my past jobs and academic courses. I’m currently doing a minor in business and have taken multiple business courses in high school. This is a great opportunity for me to not only improve the finance department but to meet new people and form connections as well. If I am elected, I’ll make sure to improve the current budget or create a new one if the need be. I’ll make sure that it benefits and accounts for all department’s and individuals’ needs. Furthermore, I’ll make sure to request financial aid from the administration and other organizations to make sure all our planned events run smoothly and according to plan.

Victor Li - Director of Finance

Hey Everyone! My name is Victor Li, and this will be my second year running for the Director of Finance. I have a lot of experience doing personal and club finances from high school and CCSS. Some of my goals for this year are to:

Continue selling hoodies and other merchandise like t-shirts, pins, and laptop stickers using new designs and possibly use designs from the 2021-2022 Hoodie contest with artists' approval.
Document our finances into two accounts instead of one. I will record the Lounge's earnings and expenses separately from the society's academic and social events. We can use our earnings from the Lounge to vote on future equipment or more significant scale events during our general meeting.
Move away from spreadsheets and towards professional accounting software to improve the ease of maintaining society accounts and bookkeeping.
Promote the importance of the role of the treasurer while being transparent and accountable with our finances.

The challenge of managing budgets and money can be complicated. Still, using the knowledge I’ve gained through past administrative experience, I am willing to take on this challenge and make our finances as straightforward and uncomplicated as possible.

Amelie Haefele - Director of Academics

Hello world! My name is Amelie Haefele and I’m going into my third year here at Carleton while currently living on residence. I promise to encourage the academic opportunities and learning of all students in Carleton’s Computer Science Society and any others who wish to join. With the move to online many, including myself have found it much harder to learn.

To combat this I plan to create online and in person events so everyone can choose which medium they prefer.
To do this I will plan to have in person events(rules permitting) and livestream it using zoom and/or discord. Along with connecting chat to the speaker so they are able to answer questions and interact with students.
To start this off I plan to create an in person meet and greet/study session on campus for those interested.

So stay tuned for timing and more information. I hope to meet and interact with you all soon! Thank you so much for reading,

Amelie Haefele

TLDR: I will create a mix of in person and online learning opportunities. I am holding an in person study session to meet people! Stay tuned for more details.