The Computing Students Association (COMPSA) hosted a virtual question and answer period for Presidential candidate Sanindie Silva, CompSci ’23, on Feb. 23. 

A small group of students came out to the virtual event to ask Silva questions about her candidacy. 

Uncontested in this year’s race, Silva presented a range of ideas she has for the upcoming academic year, as well as her commitment to student government.  

Prior to running for president, Silva held the role of COMPSA intern in her first year and is currently its events director.

Silva began by introducing the main pillars of her campaign: accessibility, engagement, and proactivity. The three pillars focus on increasing COMPSA’s reach to as many students as possible and increasing engagement with the faculty’s current and future students. 

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Passionate about heightening awareness for social issues, Silva wants to find ways for the faculty to be more inclusive and deal promptly with issues at hand. 

Silva also said she wants to see an increase in transparency and visibility from the Association to the students.

“I really want to increase engagement within the [COMPSA] student body,” she told the attendees. 

Silva said she’s recognized the increased difficulty of reaching students within the faculty due to COVID-19 and wants to use social media and new marketing strategies to increase COMPSA’s reach to current and incoming students. 

She also noticed the change in popularity of social media platforms used by students in the faculty, mentioning a shift from Facebook to Instagram. 

If elected, Silva added she would incorporate a student census at either the beginning of the next academic year or at the end of this semester. 

The goal of the census, according to Silva, would be to identify where COMPSA students are, the best ways to reach them, the social platforms they use the most, and any issues students might want addressed. 

“We want to create a year that would best fit the students’ needs,” Silva said. 

Silva said she also wants to promote what COMPSA can do for students, because she feels as though there are many people within the faculty who don’t understand how COMPSA can help them. 

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“[The year will run] smoother for students if they know that they have this resource available to them,” Silva said. 

Silva said she wants to have a bigger role on the COMPSA council to make as large of an impact as possible. 

“I feel as if being president would be the best way to implement the change that I want to see [in the faculty],” she said.