2022/2023 By-Election Candidates
Our By-Election is officially underway and we are excited to share the candidates with you! We are sharing the candidate profiles on our website and social media accounts to create awareness about our By-Elections and to encourage students to vote. The Students’ Association remains impartial and does not endorse any of the candidates.
VOTE ON YOUR LOOP ACCOUNT
October 4 – 6, 2022
Vice President External Candidates
*profiles shared in alphabetical by last name*
Erin Bast
I am Erin Bast, and I am running for the Student’s Association Vice President External position. I have been a council member of the RDP Student’s Association for almost a year. Now in my second year of the Legal Assistant Diploma Program, I can confidently say that I will further my education beyond what I have already committed to at RDP. Wanting to continue my education at RDP means I will be on campus for an additional three to four years, which will be a perfect opportunity to immerse myself in the Students Association.
2021 was my first year on campus at Red Deer Polytechnic. During that time, I have enjoyed being very involved with additional organizations. I became a member of the Legal Assistant Student Society, where I was a First-Year Executive member last school term, and I volunteered to host webinars and organize meetings and events. This school term, I was elected President of the student group, and it has been my duty to ensure that the student group runs smoothly. I have been fulfilling obligations such as acting as the official representative of the society and overseeing fundraising and events, executive and general meetings and recruiting enough members to make the society successful while ensuring that the executive and general members fulfill their duties.
It has been important to me to become more educated about mental health since working through my own mental health issues. Studying the law has also made me realize how much mental health and the legal system are intertwined. Education in this area has humbled me and made me more understanding and empathetic. I do my best with the knowledge that I have been provided for free from RDP’s Counselling Services. I am a Cam’s Kids Ambassador Team Leader through the Counselling Services at Red Deer Polytechnic. Being an Ambassador for Cam’s Kids means I have been certified with my Mental Health First Aid and Community Helpers Program. I have the pleasure of spreading awareness for anxiety and mental health issues, which involves hosting mental health events that I get to participate in.
I am a wife and a mother to three little ones and our three fur babies, and I cherish them all. They are the reason that I am here furthering my education; they are the reason that I am pushing myself to step outside my comfort zone; they are the reason I succeed. They are my everything. I have an incredible support system at home, which has allowed me to find my way through juggling family, school, extracurricular and volunteering schedules.
As I said, I am passionate about mental health, so I know many things can affect a person’s mental health, such as money, food, employment opportunities and access to counselling services. Should I be elected as the Vice President External, I would advocate for the students of Red Deer Polytechnic to have access to all of these critical services.
Chloe McLaughlin
*Headshot not provided*
Hi, my name is Chloe McLaughlin and I am running for Vice President External. As many of you are, I am a second year student just finding my way through life. I am in the new Education program. I hope to one day teach high school students and maybe even college students. I have tried to work with young children but they are way too energetic with me and not being a morning person it was hard to keep up. I spent years with my teachers watching them inspire young minds to figure out what they want to be in life and I hope that one day I will be able to be that teacher for my students. My major is English and my minor is Social Studies. Writing is something that I am passionate about because through telling stories you can learn a lot about a person. The way people speak shows what people think and their own opinion. Also writing has never been my strong suit and I always get my friends to look over my spelling. I love starbucks and procrastination. Coffee is my best friend when I stay out late and need to go to an 8 AM class, preferably ice coffee with caramel but I also love tea, hot chocolate, apple cider and any other hot or cold drink. Something special about me is that I am adopted. I do not have a sad story but I am grateful that people were willing to take me in and make me their own child. I have five siblings so everything can be chaotic sometimes. People that did not know that I was adopted have said that I have the attitude from my father and my looks from my mother. I love doing puzzles or board games with my friends. I prefer Marvel over Dc but Wonder Woman will always be my favorite hero to be inspired by. You can usually find me in the library working on assignments due the next day or laughing in the hallways with my friends. I love basketball and was captain of my team in highschool. I was also in many theater productions musical and non musical but I was not able to keep up with those and college. The theatre productions I was in were Beauty and the Beast, The Greatest Showman, Romeo and Juliet, Murders in the Heir, The Little Mermaid, and lastly The Wizard of Oz. I love books, mainly classics by Jane Austen and Charles Dickenson and many others. I loved shopping at thrift stores and I actually used to work at one which I have inherited from my parents who are also teachers. Bowling is something I do every week but somehow I still am terrible at it. I am addicted to cheese and pickles but you could also win me over with any type of food. All in all I feel that I am a great candidate for this position and if you elect me
Candidate profile requirements: Maximum of 150 words for social media and maximum of 500 words for Viewpoints. If the maximum word count is exceeded, profiles will be cut off at the maximum allotted. Profiles are not edited by the Students’ Association.
Questions about the Elections? Contact Marian Cruz, Chief Returning Officer at [email protected].