Executive Candidates

President

Rayna Porter
SUSTAIN
Develop firm stances for the organization in partnership with the Board of Directors towards environmental sustainability, social equity, and accessibility to guide future student leaders and maintain the dedication to excellence already found in the student association today.
GROW
Update the TDSA Mission statement and Principles to honour the “small campus vibe” that makes Trent Durham unique while also reflecting the campus of today.
CONNECT
Ensure every student has the chance to participate in training and events through more effective communication tools and a social media strategy that emulates accountability and professionalism.
MORE! Check out my website!

Vice President of University Affairs

Nathan Barnett
Hi, my name is Nathan Barnett and I’m a 3rd year Social Work student. For the past 2 years, I’ve worked for Trent Durham as a student employee with health promotions, bringing awareness to student needs. As well, during the past year, I served as Director of Inclusion on TDSA’s Board of Directors. This year, I’ve decided to run for Vice President of University Affairs (VPUA).
As your VPUA, I will be dedicated to advocating for your rights at the university, municipal, provincial and federal government by sitting on committees and engaging in policy writing with other schools through the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). In the past year, I have worked with our current TDSA executive team on a policy paper around LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit post secondary students. As your next VPUA, I promise to bring my regular enthusiasm and passion for advocacy to the school and beyond. As the school is going through numerous changes in the upcoming year, such as a new building and residence on campus, I promise to provide students with the support they need in order to be successful at the post-secondary level. In doing, so I hope to bring more community involvement on campus, such as continuing to engage with Feed the Need Durham to help provide supplies for our food bank and GO Transit to create an easier and more convenient commute to campus. In addition to maintaining relationships, I aim to create new relationships with other organizations vital to holistic student well-being. Due to my previous experiences on campus with Health Promotions and being Director of Inclusion, I believe that I would be a strong Vice President of University Affairs.

Vice President of Campus Life

Meagan Atfield
Hi! My name is Meagan Atfield. I’m a third year Child and Youth Studies and Teacher Education Stream student and I have worked on campus as a Student Ambassador in Recruitment for the last 2 years. I’m running for Vice President of Campus Life because I feel that I can enhance the student life experience on campus. Below are a few things that I wish to accomplish if elected VPCL.
Next year is a big change for our campus. With these changes, my goal is to retain the same feeling of community and ability to form relationships and connections that Trent Durham is known for. With 200 new students living directly on campus next year, I feel the need for there to be an opportunity for all students to engage in events, clubs, and groups, especially the students living on residence who need the opportunity to form healthy support systems. My goal if elected to VPCL is the enhancement of the clubs and groups on campus. First, in making sure they run a minimum of at least 1 (One) event or meeting each semester and ensuring they communicate this with myself (VPCL) and TDSA. Second, in ensuring that these events/meetings are advertised well in advance by the TDSA to the overall student population.
This leads to another of my goals being a better system of promoting events to students. At the beginning of each semester, my goal is to create a calendar of events taking place. I want to provide students, especially those with other obligations, the opportunities to attend these events. My hope is that with earlier promotion of events, more students will be able to attend and participate in them. To ensure this happens, I want to enforce that all groups submit a proposal indicating the date that they plan to hold their events and/or meetings at the beginning of each semester. This will not only allow the opportunity for earlier promotion and more student engagement, but also provide a better level of accountability for our clubs.
As a student working two part-time jobs, I know how difficult it can be to balance academic and professional lives, alongside having fun and getting involved. My main goal as VPCL would be to make events and campus activities easily accessible and inclusive for all students. This goal will be achieved through the enhancement of clubs and groups on campus, as well as the creation of the events calendar.

Aidan Davidson
Hey, my name’s Aidan Davidson! You may know me already, given the fact that I essentially live at the school (I occupy a secret nook in the library atrium where I emerge from daily to go about my many escapades), but in case you don’t, here’s a little bit about me. I am a fourth-year English major in the Teacher Education Stream, and have worked directly with students in several different capacities over the last three years of my undergraduate degree. I am so incredibly excited to be running for the position of Vice-President of Campus Life because I know that, together with an incredible team, I can help to make your student experience next year the best one yet! As Vice-President of Campus Life, I plan to achieve several things: I will continue the amazing work being done by current VPCL, Hema Tikaram, to improve the multicultural representation of our campus, primarily through the running of multicultural events regularly; I will work to significantly improve the levels of campus involvement by offering an even greater diversity of events, inspired directly by the student body themselves (I will continue the suggestion box!), and by better promoting upcoming events through a variety of mediums; I will employ a club events “gold-star” system similar to one used by past VPCLs in order to encourage clubs to hold more events for students and to foster more engagement; I will ensure consistent dialogue is kept between myself and all club executives in order to maintain steady activity from clubs. Of course, my entire year as VPCL cannot be summed up in one post, there is so much more to the job than just a few political promises (plus, with all the fun stuff I have planned, it’s very hard to do that!). Instead, let me show you what I can do for you. With so many big changes on the horizon (new building, anyone?), and a whole new year ahead of us, let’s work together to realize the full potential of your Trent University Durham experience. For more information about my platform, or to ask me any general questions, feel free to contact me at davidsonvpcl2020@gmail.com, or DM me @davidsonvpcl2020.