Teran Chapis
Teran Chapis (she/hers) ~ Class of 2022 ~ [email protected]
My name is Teran Chapis, and I am running for chair of the Committee for Political and Legislative Awareness. I have been a part of CPLA since my first week on campus. In fact, I wrote about being a part of CPLA in my application essay to Wellesley. I have been on CPLA’s CORE (e-board) since the end of my first semester. I would like to take my involvement a step further and serve as chair. Outside of my work on CPLA, I have relevant experience to be chair: I was a leader in my high school student government, I was part of a government initiative in Connecticut that culminated in a speech at the CT House of Reps, I organized a petition against my school system for human rights violations that brought about change, I have worked on political campaigns and in a public office and I am a student manager in the Knapp Technology Center here at Wellesley. One initiative currently being debated in CPLA that I am passionate about is changing CPLA’s name to be more straightforward and closer to our mission, such as the Committee for Political Awareness or the Committee for Political Engagement. Based on my experience these past few years on CPLA, I would also like to help the committee further its mission by:
1) Creating a political newsletter. With the disappearance of mass emails, CPLA should be taking a more active role in publicizing voter registration, election information and political events. I plan to facilitate the creation of a monthly digital CPLA newsletter, containing information on upcoming elections, important political headlines of the month, political events happening on campus and in the area and political cartoons.
2) Restructuring CPLA meetings to reflect its mission. CPLA currently spends about half of our general meetings planning our events and programs and the other half reading articles and having a discussion on a current event or topic. I believe that having internal CPLA discussions every week takes important time away from CPLA’s mission of serving the student body. We should spend all of our time at CPLA meetings planning events, coordinating with other political orgs, researching political movements in the area to publicize to the student body, etc. Instead of having a discussion every week, I propose that we instead hold a discussion or debate once a month and publicize it to the whole campus to fulfill our mission of engaging the student body. As a student government committee, everything we do should be to serve the greater campus community, and I plan to ensure that all of the time and energy we spend in CPLA will be put towards doing so.
Vote for Teran Chapis for CPLA Chair. Voting will take place via WEngage on March 12. For more information, check out https://sites.google.com/wellesley.edu/wellesley-cg-elections/home or email any questions to [email protected].
Jailene Lemus
Dear Wellesley,
My name is Jailene Lemus (she/her/hers), Class of 2021, and I am running to be your next Committee for Political and Legislative Awareness (CPLA) Chair!
So, who am I? Well for starters, I am a rising senior who cried at the finale of the Good Place, who listens to Omar Apollo obsessively and whose go-to karaoke song is Bet On It by Troy Bolton. But the most important part of who I am, as cheesy as it sounds, is my drive to make this world a better place. I aim to do this by helping spread political awareness on and off campus to empower others to engage in our political system for the betterment of our society. And so, I am running as the next CPLA Chair to help you participate in the decisions being made on our future, now.
I have been a member of the CPLA since my freshman year. During my time at CPLA, I have served on CORE for three years in many different capacities, as discussion chair, treasurer, and representative for the WC Democrats. I have led conversations about domestic and international politics, have helped plan campus wide events such as election watch parties and have collaborated with other organizations on campus for CPLA events. My leadership experiences in CPLA have taught me the necessary skills needed to lead the organization, such as open communication, organizational skills and event planning. Most importantly, I have seen the immense potential CPLA has to grow as a leading resource on campus for activism and advocacy.
I believe CPLA has the ability to, and should, become an org on campus that not only educates but actively responds to political issues pertaining to our student body. I would hope to do so by:
- collaborating with a variety of orgs on campus that expands our concepts of what is political in the traditional sense
- publicizing our ability to sponsor politically minded student groups on campus
- gearing up for the 2020 November elections with informational and register to vote events
- engaging with students in much more chill and low-pressure events, expanding on those like Bipartisanship and Bubble Tea
Overall, I want CPLA to become an org that students see as a safe space for fruitful discussion and as a force for change on political issues on and off campus. As CPLA Chair, I promise to be your advocate Wellesley. Thank you.
With much love from abroad, Jailene Lemus
*Email me at [email protected] for questions or conversation! ** Voting will take place via WEngage on March 12. For more information, check out https://sites.google.com/wellesley.edu/wellesley-cg-elections/home or email any questions to [email protected].