Let's face it, the AMS is out of touch. Year after year, we hear calls for transparent, student-driven decision making and year after year, AMS leadership continues to ignore student pleas. We need elected leaders who understand that they don't run the students, they run for the students. As President, I'm committed to giving you more of a say in how your student union is run, including:

• Actively soliciting feedback through working groups, canvassing, and surveys before making large operational changes

• Opening wider consultation on what you'd like to see from AMS Events, including choosing a headliner for Block Party

• Establishing a communications working group so that you can let us know what sort of content you'd like to hear from us in our newsletters and on our socials

• Increasing opportunities for volunteering in AMS operations and governance

• Supporting student workers and their right to unionize

On a campus with over 60,000 students, it can be tough to find a sense of community. That's why it's so important for the AMS to support on-campus groups who are cultivating the many tight-knit communities that call UBC home. I'm committed to increasing this support by connecting communities with existing AMS initiatives such as:

• Expanding Safewalk partnerships with social groups to ensure the service is adequately staffed during peak hours

• Facilitating training sessions with AMS Advocacy so that your community leaders have the tools to back you up in a dispute with your faculty

• Offering bulk orders through the food bank for any campus group running community meal or food pantry programs

• Encouraging inter-community collaboration by expanding AMS Caucuses to include Student Life and Communications Executives

• Supporting Health and Wellness initiatives with AMS Peer Support workshops

Anyone who runs for a position in student government is going to have a big ego. Instead of writing this off and ignoring the problems it can cause, we need to build resilient systems of governance that take this tendency into account. By strengthening our checks and balances, we can start to cultivate a culture of kindness in the AMS. This would include:

• Exploring the reestablishment of Student Court

• Establishing closer connections between VPs and Council and AMS Services and Businesses

• Exploring a return to a flat executive structure

• Establishing a regular session of the Executive Performance and Accountability Committee where VPs are present without the President

• Increasing transparency by establishing more concrete guidelines for appropriate topics to discuss in camera

• Creating a procedure to "declassify" in camera business when the material no longer meets requirements to remain confidential

I started my career as a student politician in 2023 just as I was finishing my third year. I ran (and lost) for the Faculty of Applied Science Student Senate seat. The upshot for me was that in the process of running, I was noticed by AMS and EUS leadership who encouraged me to run for the vacant VP Academic position in the EUS. 

From then on, I was hooked. I felt that the work I was doing aligned with my values and I felt supported by the community I had found in the EUS. So when the AMS VP AUA encouraged me to run for his position, it seemed like a natural next step. I wasn't aware yet that what they wanted was someone who they thought would "play ball" (they really said that). 

Ironically, what set off this whole chain of events was a VP review of the President's performance at his request. When the VPs started comparing notes, we all started to realize what kind of people we were dealing with. 

Not knowing what to do, I turned to my predecessor for advice. He warned me that I would be seen as the "ring leader" of the VPs and would be the first to go if we caused them any problems. You can probably guess what happened from there.

When I was removed, my first overwhelming feeling was disappointment. I really believed in the work we were doing and I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that anyone would sacrifice all of that work to satisfy their ego. I felt like the AMS had the potential to be so much more. 

I still believe our student union can be more than petty politics. And if UBC students should choose me, I would be overjoyed to make my small contribution to the 110-year-long project that we call the AMS.