CCSS General Election Platforms

Written By: Matthew MacRae-Bovell

The CCSS Elections for 2023-2024 have begun! We’re excited to announce that we have 8 candidates running for positions on the Board of Directors.

The Candidates are:

President:

Victor Li

Vice President:

Richard Kim

Director of Finance:

Ryan Chung

Director of Academics:

Benjamin Yu
Shirley Zhan

Director of Social:

Byron McDonald
John Lu

Director of Community:

Kelly Huang

The Campaign Platforms:

Victor Li - President

As the Carleton Computer Science Society President, my platform will focus on three key areas: community building, education, and professional development.

🏡 Community Building:

Foster a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or background.
Promote collaboration between different Computer Science clubs and organizations to serve the student community better.
Making myself available via Discord and our lounge to ask questions about either school, professional life and how they can get involved with our community

📚 Education:

Host workshops and training sessions for students to improve their technical skills, including programming languages, data structures, and algorithms.
Work with the faculty to identify and address areas where students may struggle academically and provide resources to support them.

🔎 Professional Development:

Connect students with industry professionals and alumni through networking events and speaker series.
Offer resume and cover letter reviews, interview practice, and other resources to help students prepare for job interviews and internships.

Overall, my goal as the Computer Science Society President is to create a supportive and engaging community for all Computer Science students and provide them with the resources they need to succeed academically and professionally.

Richard Kim - Vice President

Hi!

I am Richard Kim, a 4th year in Honours BCS, general stream. Some of you may know me from COMP 2406, as I have been a TA for 2406 4 times in a row. Or you may have seen me from SSSC (Science Student Success Centre). Where I have been mentoring CS students needing academic advice and running workshops and events, such as the Carleton Coding Challenge (I hope yall had fun in this!).

Here are a few things I would like to achieve if I am elected as a Vice President:

Creating a Healthy Workflow for CCSS
This would be the most important duty as the main task of a Vice President would be to act as a ‘COO’ to assist the President, who would be more of a ‘CEO’. In the past, I had various experiences in managing a team. I have been part of student associations and served as a president for a club for multiple years, and currently am a Team Lead in SSSC. Using those experiences, I will be able to organize the CCSS’s workflow to assist the President and guide individual board members to create a healthy workflow.
Strengthen the Organizational Structure
Based on my experiences with other student organizations, it is very important to have a solid organizational structure. If elected, I would like to reinforce our structure by thinking of ways to incorporate more volunteers, and/or making changes to the positions available.
Extra Study Resources
Personally, discretemath.ca developed by CCSS was the only reason I got out of 2804 alive. So I am looking to expand that into other tough courses in CS such as 3000, and 3804. Obviously, this will require discussing with the faculty and the professors. But I believe it is worth a try, as the benefit it will give to CS students is immeasurable.
More Merch!
It is very common to see CS students representing CCSS around the campus by wearing the hoodies. I would like to have more products available to increase more options for those wanting to join in.
Mental Health Support
It is not a secret that our program is rigorous. There are tons of us who heavily lack sleep, and suffer from mental health concerns due to the assignments, tests, grades, and of course, Coop as well. I am deeply concerned about this issue, and will further promote mental wellness during my time at CCSS.
Support for Non-Traditional CS Students
People join CS for various reasons, at various times in their lives. While most of us are straight from high school, there are some of us who have returned to school after a degree, or even two. As a non-traditional CS student myself (I am a transfer student from a life science degree), I intend to make Carleton CS more inclusive for those of us starting a new adventure.

Feel free to contact me via email (richardkim@cmail.carleton.ca) if you have any questions or want to discuss my platform!

Richard Kim

Ryan Chung - Director of Finance

Hello! I’m Ryan! Some of the goals that I have are:

Continuing and expanding the sale of merchandise

As a tradition, the CCSS has been selling hoodies and other merchandise. I plan on continuing this tradition and expanding into different types of merchandise which are priced fairly. As I am starting a business entrepreneurship minor next year, I will apply my new knowledge to these ventures to further performance and sales.

Hosting more study sessions and creating resources

In my current position as First Year Representative for the 2022-2023 school year, I have been planning more academic events to provide more support for students. Redistributing the budget to allow for a better balance between social and academic events will, in turn, increase the resources available to students to ensure everyone can succeed.

Voting on events

The fall and winter general meetings currently allow students to see and vote on the budget for each term. However, I understand that people’s needs and ideas change over the course of each school term. What I want to achieve is having a portion of the events budget set aside for events which people can vote upon throughout the term. This will allow everyone in the society to stay involved and have a say in what we should offer.

Feel free to message me on Discord (ryanc#3792) if you have any questions!

Benjamin Yu - Director of Academics

Hey everyone! My name is Ben, and I’m currently in 1st year. Although I may not have much experience within the university, I believe that I can help contribute to your academic success. Computer science is a hard program to get through, but as Director of Academics, I want to make YOUR life easier.

Here are some ideas I have to meet that goal:

Course-specific study groups

There are a lot of courses that could benefit from organized group study. Sometimes it really helps to have a place where everyone can come together and share their ideas in preparation for a test/assignment. This is something I plan on continuing throughout the academic year, and I would be open to organizing one as soon as there is enough demand.

Upper-year Panels

My plan is to pick up where Sh*t I Wish I Knew left off, but with a more academic focus. These panels would be a perfect chance for upper-year students to share any specific study tips, resources, and anything else about a certain course they’ve taken. Speaking from personal experience, I believe that this advice is extremely valuable - especially for new university students, but really for anyone taking any course.

Career Development Workshops

Knowing how to sell yourself is a key part in finding any job/co-op position. Creative resume writing, interview performance, and networking tips and workshops can all help. These will hopefully give you guys a head start on finding your all-important first job, and I’m sure we can all use a boost in these fields.

While the above are some ideas I had for the year, YOU are still my main source of inspiration. Everything I mentioned above is open to your feedback, and I welcome any new suggestions or comments. This isn’t a one-man show: We’re in this together, so let’s make the best of our studies! You can reach out anytime with questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them.

Where you can reach me:

Discord: (i am yu#3711)

Instagram: ben.yk.yu

Email: benjaminyu3@cmail.carleton.ca

Shirley Zhan - Director of Academics

Hello! My name is Shirley and I’ve had 2 years of experience on the CCSS council. I’ve conducted various events and hosted dozens of initiatives while being a representative. Once elected, I will organize a variety of initiatives to help with academic success, create opportunities, and introduce new topics within the tech industry! The details for the initiatives are below:

Study Sessions 📚
- If elected, I will make sure to conduct study sessions on difficult courses to help prepare for midterms and exams. These study sessions will be assisted with resources such as the discrete math website.
Tech Workshops 🖥️
- CS is pack full of different topics and I love to create workshops which will introduce them. Some examples I would like to talk about are:
  - Cloud Computing, specifically services such as Amazon Web Services(AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
  - Web Development Technology, specifically libraries like React, frameworks like Vue, and databases like MySQL.
  - Creative Coding! It’s a fun topic involving generative art, data visualization, sound art, and more!
Mock Tech Interviews 💼
- Tech interviews are an essential part of the job seeking process in the CS industry. As such, I believe it’s important to practice being in tech interviews so you can achieve success when you’re looking for your next internship/job. I plan to conduct mock tech interview sessions where you can receive feedback for your performance and get familiar with the process.
Industry Presentation and Resources 🎤
- Next year, I will make sure to create info sessions on how to prepare your resume and ways to improve your chances of finding an internship/job opportunity.
- Resources will also be made to aid you in your job seeking process! Some examples include a list of networking events, guides to edit your LinkedIn profile, and more!

John Lu - Director of Social

Who Am I and What do I want? 🙃

Hey, everyone! My name’s John. I’m the CCSS First Year Representative and a current Board of Directors.

Over the course of the school year, I’ve hosted a games night, multiple study sessions, discord project development meetings, and had a hand in many other events. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. As the Director of Social, I’d have a few plans for the CCSS!

A Warm and Welcoming Community for All 🛋️

A lot of us haven’t really been able to connect with the CCSS. When you walk in, you don’t really know anyone. Some students are talking about complex topics and industry drama that you know nothing about! Additionally, volunteers feel like they’ve gotten ghosted or left on-read multiple times. As the Director of Social, I would make sure students feel included and have tasks.

Mini Career Fair 🤝

The CCSS has had a “Find Your First Tech Job” presentation, but what if we could do a little more? It’d be awesome to host a Computer Science-Specific Career Fair. Students can meet employers and if you’re already going to another career fair, you can use this one as your mock run and see how you’d fare!

CS Club Expo and Collabs 💻

This year, a lot of students haven’t been able to hear a lot about other CS related clubs. The AI Society, Carleton Competitive Programming Club, and Women in Computer Science all host events but don’t get enough attention. As the social director, I would host a club expo closer to the start of the year and event collabs for all that are interested.

Games Night 🎮

The First Year Games Night I hosted went pretty well. The interactive format really brings out the best in people. I’ll continue to go in this direction but it won’t just be card games and only first years anymore. I’ll expand the scope with more games like GarcticPhone, Among Us, Mafia, and a whole lot more.

Prof Night and Coffee Socials 🍵

All of the past professor-related social events have been major successes, but I only noticed a couple profs coming in every time. I intend to host socials at a more convenient time for both students and professors.

Upholding Speed-Friending 😀

I think it’s really important for students of all years to get to know each other. Chatting online is nice and all, but I’ll be moving it towards a more fun direction. Discord Minigames is a real bop! Team building and light competition are great ways to meet people.

I want to make a real difference in the community, and as the Director of Social, I’ll be sure to do all this and more for you guys

Sincerely,

John Lu

Kelly Huang - Director of Community

Hey! I’m Kelly, a first year computer science student, and I’m running to be your next Director of Community. I’m passionate about making university a memorable experience for everyone and I believe that finding a sense of community is super important. As the Director of Community, I would love to:

1. Get you involved!

The CCSS is a place created by students, for students. Along with the super fun events, I would like to ensure lots of different volunteer opportunities for you to get involved so that you can make an impact.

2. Establish a welcoming and inclusive community

As someone who didn’t have much experience coming into first year, I know how intimidating some of these events may seem. I would advocate for more events that are relevant to tech and on the topics of interests of the student body (you guys!!). All events would be friendly for all skill levels and nobody should be scared of attending an event because they don’t think they’re experienced enough.

3. Further grow Carleton’s computer science community by collaborating/connecting with the various other CS clubs

Besides the CCSS, Carleton also has many other tech clubs such as WiCS, CU Blueprint and the AI society. I hope to collaborate with them to help expose everyone to various topics and useful experiences.

The CCSS is a place for all CS students and I hope to help establish a welcoming community that will leave a memorable impact on everyone’s university experience.