By Yasmine Wiersema
Mark is a fourth semester Law and Psychology major and is running for RASA CAO. From the moment he entered the UCR campus, he knew that one day he would contribute to our warm, friendly community. After thinking this through, he concluded that the position of CAO would be the best way to do so: maintaining a close working relationship with societies and their members is something that Mark is passionate about. He is interested in and engaged with different societies, and always eager to see what events they come up with.
Why is Mark the man for the job?
He describes himself as a social and open person, meaning that societies can come to him with all kinds of plans: his most important goal would be to give societies the freedom, space and means to develop new ideas. By putting trust in societies – because, after all, their members know best what would be possible within that society – he hopes to bring out the best in them.
Furthermore, by promoting collaboration between societies, Mark wants to stimulate more large and exciting events that attract a group of people from different societies. “By bringing people with different interests together, you generate fun and interesting combinations.” Furthermore, collaborations are a great way for smaller societies to become more active. He is eager to explore what connections can be made between societies.
His main focus is to make sure that, by putting trust in society boards, they have the freedom and the means to perform new ideas and to experiment to see if these ideas work out. “There is of course a chance that [things] do not work out, but on the other hand, there is also a chance that they do”, and this may create a whole new tradition or event that is loved by the community. “This gives room for societies to innovate and that is something I want to stimulate.”
Yasmine Wiersema, class of 2015, is an Earth- and Computer Science major from Gouda, The Netherlands.
