Jane Chiffriller, philosophy major and current treasurer of the Student Government Association, is very excited to be one of the candidates for SGA Student Body President for the 2016-2017 school year.

In an interview conducted last week, The Seahawk was able to gain more understanding about Chiffriller and her upcoming campaign for the position.

“I love UNCW, I love the students, I love everything about UNCW,” said Chiffriller. “My biggest strength would be my commitment to the university.”

Chiffriller has experience working with SGA and feels that her current position as treasurer prepares her well to work with SGA as its leaders.

“I’m on the executive board [right now], so I spend a lot of time working with the people in the student government, like Dan, the [current] president, Caitlyn, the Vice President, and administrators Jon Kappel and Nicole Fedders. I definitely feel I’ve learned a lot about how student government works. And I’ve worked with students, learning about what they want and what they expect from student government. It’s a huge time commitment. It’s really prepared me to dedicate a ton of my time. To be treasurer has to be my top priority.”

Chiffriller has divided her platform into five parts: academics, school spirit, diversity, outreach, and campus improvement, citing academics as one of her most important issues.

“I think academics is a big issue for me. Right now, my professors are under pressure to increase class size. It’s important to focus on class sizes… and advising,” said Chiffriller.

As for campus improvements, she has strong opinions on how UNCW plans to expand and update its buildings.

“They’re going to start construction on the new Hub [a dining facility adjacent to Graham-Hewlett and Galloway Hall], and if the bond passes in March, they’ll be adding a new health and human sciences building. They’ll also be adding a new veteran’s center. I was telling the Chancellor it’s important to me that we’re focusing on all of the students, not just the nursing students. We could also be restoring older buildings like Bear Hall or the library. We need to make sure we’re getting a lot of student input on the new health and human sciences building,” Chiffriller said.

Chiffriller does not pretend that there is not room for her to grow. She is willing to admit where she can improve.

“I definitely could be more outgoing and easygoing. Sometimes I get too serious and stuck in an idea, which can affect my relationships with the administrators. I get very business-oriented quickly. I’ll improve upon that by actually putting myself in situations where I can talk one-on-one, like going to breakfast with the Vice Chancellor,” said Chiffriller.

Due to her major in philosophy and her position as SGA treasurer, Chiffriller believes she has many strong personal qualities to bring to the table.

“I have good time management and organizational skills; as treasurer I worked 12 hours a week. I have great critical thinking skills that I have developed as a philosophy major.”

Unfortunately, past years have had a very low voter turnout for the SGA election. Chiffriller wishes that more were involved.

“It’s awesome that we have the opportunity to choose and be engaged… We have to get people to care… It’s important to get out what people are doing. People always come up to me and ask, ‘What does SGA do?’ We have to show that SGA does a lot and does advocate for them. It’s not just a figurehead or title.”

Election polls will open Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. and will close Feb. 25 at 4 p.m., according to the SGA website. Results will be announced Feb. 25 by 5 p.m.