Several female candidates have run for presidential seat, but none have succeeded in recent years. Olivia Siglin looks to break this habit in the upcoming election as she runs for President of the Students’ Association.

Siglin, the current state and local government chair, has teamed up with Jacob Sutton, the current programming and public relations chair, for this year’s race.

Engagement, experience and efficiency are three main points that Siglin and Sutton have created for their platform. With these three things in mind, they believe they will run a successful race. 

“Right off the bat, we’d love to get involved with the senate. We have so many senators and a lot of seats per college,” Sutton said. “We want to figure out how we can bridge the gap between constituents and the representatives.”

With a large number of students in each college, especially Arts and Sciences, it is hard to reach out to the constituents, Sutton said, but this won’t stop the duo from trying to engage as many students as possible.

“We want to take the time to set tangible goals right away after elected,” Siglin said. “Whether it’s getting students to come to more meetings or [creating] measurable goals …”

According to Siglin, a lot of current senators aren’t sure if they were making any differences. She and Sutton would like to change that by getting more people engaged.

In order to do this, Siglin and Sutton are looking to create better communication with students.

“Just in our campaign, we’ve reached out to student groups and talked to those that don’t have representatives and those that haven’t been reached out to before,” Siglin said. “One of the things that we need to get done is an update list online for organizations.”

Some of the organizations currently online have not been updated or active for years, which makes it difficult for other students to join, Siglin said.

If elected, there is one thing that Siglin and Sutton are specifically looking to accomplish—an alcohol diversion program.

The program allows for first time offenders of underage drinking offenses to participate daily for 60 days. Each of those days, offenders must pass a breathalyzer test. By the end of the program, if they blew clean each day, the misdemeanor is removed from the offender’s record.

“Anybody who is in pre-professional program, that is a big deal and it shows up as a misdemeanor on your record and if it is going to affect them, it is something to earn back and get off their records,” Sutton said.

The program is currently a pilot program in Vermillion, but the two are looking to bring it to Brookings.

According to Sutton and Siglin, they work really well together, even when they vote on opposing sides. To them, this makes them a good fit for president and vice president.

“People in the past have made promises that have not happened. We can help accelerate the process,” Siglin said. “That is a priority. It is not something we can promise.”