CUSG elections are an exciting event every spring, and this year is no exception. Candidates put their all into carefully strategized campaigns, hoping to attract as many students to their cause as possible. In the middle of the madness is senior Andrea Collins, manager of Derwin Simpson and Jeremy Lutz’s campaign. I had the opportunity to gain an insightful point of view by interviewing Andrea about her role in the campaign and received some great responses.
To begin, I kept it simple with, “How do you know Derwin and Jeremy?” Andrea responded that she and Derwin had been friends since her freshman year at Clemson, when they became involved in Clemson’s Orientation Ambassador program. Following this, Andrea stated that, “I did not know much about Jeremy until this year, but I have gotten to know him throughout this entire process, and he is truly a light to be around.” 
When asked by Derwin about her future in the campaign, Andrea expressed “shock and honor at the same time,” but willingly accepted the role of campaign manager and began working on the vision quickly. 
Getting into specifics, I asked Andrea what point of the campaign platform she was most excited about. She responded to this question decidedly, stating that, “I’m most excited about the empowering student voices portion that Derwin and Jeremy have crafted.” 
When explaining this response, Andrea followed up with, “Students at Clemson have a huge influence on everything that happens at this university, but a lot of those voices aren’t always able to be heard because of the power structure within the student body…” She also highlighted on Derwin and Jeremy’s desire to change this occurrence by “ensuring that all students can be heard and advocated for.”
As far as the entire campaign team, Andrea pointed out that, “Our core team consists of 15 people who have helped get everything done.” However, she was quick to feature the support of volunteers and newcomers to the campaign. Without the combined support of the core team and volunteers, garnering support on a large campus is pretty difficult. “We have been able to target many different areas of campus rather than focusing on one specific subset of students, and I think that’s what makes this team so strong,” said Andrea. 
Following up with this, I asked Andrea about the student response to Derwin and Jeremy’s campaign. “Many students have reacted very positively to our campaign thus far; I think a strong suit that both Derwin and Jeremy have is being very warm and welcoming,” said Andrea.
“A lot of times, I think that’s what gets lost in student government…people get caught up in all of the meetings and commitments they have, and they forget who they are really trying to make change for, the typical Clemson student,” said Andrea.
Finally, I asked Andrea, if she had to sum the campaign up in one word, what would it be and why? She responded in a definite way, her first word being “Real.”
Andrea continued her statement discussing the campaign and election process in general, but ultimately came to the conclusion that, “…elections like this become very focused on the politics aspect of it and forget that we are just people who are passionate about this university and are trying to make it a better place,” said Andrea. 
She continued her response with her final statement, “Derwin and Jeremy have not lost sight of that aspect [of the campaign] and are working incredibly hard because of their passion, but they also have not lost sight of who they are and why they decided to run for Student Body President and Vice President to begin with,” said Andrea. 
After speaking with Andrea, I was in awe of the amount of effort that really goes into a campaign. There are many moving parts, moving people, and moving discussions. All of these come to a pinnacle in late February when primary elections begin, and again on March 6 for the final election of Student Body President and Vice President.