As early as last summer, Team NKC knew they would run for Residence Society (ResSoc) executive.

This year will be the first year ResSoc exec candidates run uncontested. Last year saw three teams vie to be the first ResSoc exec, an amalgamation of Main Council Residents’ Council (MCRC) and Jean Royce Hall Council (JRHC).

“Just because there isn’t another team there, it doesn’t diminish the qualifications of our own team,” presidential candidate said Nathan Utioh, ArtSci ’15.

“We’ve put our time in with our various positions within residence, and together we’ve come … with solid ideas and as a strong team.”

Utioh is running with vice-president of judicial affairs candidate Cameron Yung, ArtSci ’16, and vice-president of resident affairs candidate Kisook Yoo, ArtSci ’16.

“We’re a team that’s not only experienced with residence, but we’re also a team that’s passionate about residence,” Yung said.

He added together they’re a strong, cohesive team — Utioh and Yoo both work together in the same building, as a don and house president respectively. As current members of ResSoc, Yung and Yoo volunteer at events together.

“We’re always supportive of one another, and the other thing is that we carry great communication,” Yung said.

Yung, a past residence floor representative and a current residence facilitator, said his experience gives him a perspective of the judicial side, where he sees the benefits of a student-run conduct system.

“We just want to see ResSoc continue to grow into something where students will want to continue to participate in it,” he said. “We feel very passionate about the society and we see the benefits [of] working in ResSoc,” Utioh said that his experience working with past MCRC and JRHC presidents and executives gives him familiarity with their roles and responsibilities. He’s also worked for ASUS as a senator and rep to the AMS.

Utioh, previously a residence facilitator and currently a don, said his team would strive to ensure event accessibility while diminishing financial or physical barriers, as well as increasing promotion efforts.

“If you look at Canada’s Wonderland or the Montreal trip, there’s a financial barrier to those events,” he said. “If you look at something like the dodgeball tournament there’s a physical barrier to that.”

Events will also function as an opportunity to interact with residents on a more personal level and receive feedback to better improve future events, Utioh said. Surveys distributed after events will help to gauge response and impact future activities.

Yoo, a former floor representative and executive intern, said her current role as house president has allowed her to work under Katie Preisner, ArtSci ’14, the current vice-president of residence affairs. This allowed her to observe ways to continue transitioning the society to include both main and West Campuses.

“I’m currently the chair of the committee as well so I work closely with the president, communicating back and forth between the president and the committee,” she said.

The team also plans to use social media to boost student engagement, as well as awareness of events, resources and services in residence, she added.

“[Through] Facebook, Twitter [and] Instagram, we want to continue to use those and make the society more accessible to students,” she said.

Yoo said she anticipates tweaking the current ResSoc website to be more interactive.

“The framework [of the website] is kind of like a skeleton; there could be a lot more put into it,” she said.

Voting takes place online on Jan. 28 and 29.