Speirs, Krogstad to use connections to ‘get work done’

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Kirby Krogstad (left) and Lane Spiers (right).

By MAKENZIE HUBER Editor-in-Chief

To be representatives of the study body, the elected president and vice president of Students’ Association must listen to student needs. This is what current Vice President Lane Speirs and Programming and Public Relations Chair Kirby Krogstad plan to do as a presidential ticket.

Both have experience in leadership positions in SA, and on campus as community assistants. Because of this, people know them and aren’t afraid to talk about issues with them, Speirs said.

Krogstad said it’s important to know what students want and how to communicate that.

“I think this is a ticket students can trust to not only support for administrative actions that might benefit students, but to give dissent when it’s needed, sitting at the table with the president,” Krogstad said. “He’s the president of the university, but we can’t be afraid of telling him our opinions. This team and this ticket will not be.”

Their platform focuses on student experience, expanding educational opportunities and connecting with campus leadership.

Although Speirs admits focusing on student experience is a broad, all-encompassing goal, he believes it’s important to keep in mind for their overall mission.

He would like to continue working to build new facilities for students and faculty to have better experiences at SDSU. This means making efforts for international students to feel welcomed on campus, increasing the safety on campus and reaching out to Native American students through the Wokini Initiative, he said.

The effort to put students first hasn’t been focused on enough yet for Krogstad.

“All the dialogue and rhetoric on campus, especially at the administrative level, has always been about facilities, green space, about investing in infrastructure,” Krogstad said. “Well, the students are what makes this place turn, and it’s about time we start investing in them more and more.”

The two want to expand educational opportunities and supplemental programs at SDSU.

Their last goal as a ticket is to use their experience with campus leadership to be a better voice for students at the administrative level.

“At the end of the day, anybody can have great ideas, but to actually be able to implement them and how to go about talking to the right people, having the right connections and knowing the process necessary to achieve those goals is entirely different,” Speirs said.

The two want to build a stronger, more welcoming university. Speirs is an agricultural communications major and Krogstad is a dairy science major.

“We are there to get work done,” Speirs said.