One of two teams campaigning in this year’s Concurrent Education Students Association (CESA) election, Team RAY is putting student experience at the forefront.

Comprised of Ruth Bryce, Alexandra Lauzon and Yael Gazit, all third-year ConEd ’20 students, Team RAY wants to give concurrent education students the chance to be more involved within their department.

With a three-tiered campaign platform, RAY is focusing on how they can support each student’s journey through their undergrad. The platform has three points: “You the student,” “You in the community,” and “You at Queen’s.”

The first tier addresses student involvement and representation within the ConEd community on campus.

“We recognize that there are a lot of students in ConEd who aren’t involved within the CESA association, and we want to represent those people so they have a voice within the council,” Lauzon told The Journal in an interview.

If elected, the team will implement focus groups with students before each council meeting, where they hope students can express their thoughts about issues to be discussed in the later meetings. 

The second tier addresses the community experience. It’s focused on CESA “run[ning] smoothly to ensure that all students are represented,” Lauzon said.  

Their third platform point, “You at Queen’s,” encompasses their promises to the entire student body. The team hopes to assist in professional development within the concurrent education department by ensuring students’ voices and job-related concerns are met by supportive figures on campus.

Lauzon said the team wants to represent and serve students “who aren’t directly involved in [CESA], or aren’t directly involved with the [its] council.”

Both Gazit and Bryce have prior CESA experience: Gazit was head teach during orientation week in 2018, while Bryce has served as council clerk and is currently a CESA photographer with Lauzon.  Outside of CESA, Bryce is part of the Ontario Youth Government executive council.

Knowing how CESA has previously operated can give Team RAY ideas when approaching their roles, according to Lauzon. She said they know they need to be accessible to students.

“We want to make sure that when we approach the first years, they’re aware of what our job is, what the role of the executive is, and how we can be a supporting role for them, so they understand they have a place to go if they need assistance,” Lauzon said.

Lauzon added her personal interest in vice-president stems from her passion for showing students what they’re capable of accomplishing with the right resources and assistance along the way.

“We’re students just like them. We’ve been in the same position as them and we want to ensure they can approach us with anything they need,” she said.