Introducing the Class of 2015/2016 SBA Presidential Candidates!

ELECTIONS *Held on Blackboard* Tuesday, Sept. 18th 7am-8pm

As you begin to navigate your first year of law school; learning how to brief a case, putting any engineering skills you may have to use in packing your backpack, and counting down the days until winter break; we want to add one more thing to your overloaded plate. Class SBA elections. Since we can assume that as a 1L you have precious little time to devote to meeting the presidential candidates for this year’s Class of 2015/2016 President, we interviewed them for you. Hopefully these brief bios will help you select the candidate that best exemplifies the qualities that you deem essential in a class president. We also included information about the Candidate Forum and the election details in case you missed the informational e-mails amidst the onslaught of general meeting invitations.

RYAN STEIDL Hometown: Annapolis, MD Undergraduate Institute and Major: Penn State University – Psychology Work Experience: Law Offices of Morris J. Amitay (Office Manager, 3 years); The Washington Political Action Committee (Office Manager; 3 years) Legal Field of Interest: Government and Public Policy The Raven: As a part of the SBA, you will have an opportunity to ‘develop and promote academic and non-academic programs designed to foster the professional growth of members of the student body’. How will you contribute to this development and what ideas do you have for academic or non-academic programs that will benefit the student body? Ryan: I wish to contribute to the professional growth of members of the student body by encouraging greater collaboration among us all. As students, we are tasked with a responsibility to manage the demands expected of us. But I firmly believe that by increasing opportunities to bring more of the Class of 2015 together, such cooperation will of course enhance our learning of the law, and also make it more enjoyable by fostering a collegial environment. I hope that as 1L Class President, I may lead the SBA to encourage unparalleled respect and friendship among the student body, which will be our strong foundation for our future success.   The Raven: What atmosphere do you hope to generate in the Class of 2015 and how will you foster this atmosphere?   Ryan: I believe the most important atmosphere the Class of 2015 should cultivate is one of collegiality. As individual law students at one of the best schools in the nation, we have all of us already proven to be driven, competitive, and hard working. As a group, however, we should strive to be a completely supportive and unified membership of aspiring professionals, who can build off of each other’s strengths and ideas, and band together to achieve unparalleled success. I hope to foster this atmosphere through initiatives which will encourage greater collaboration and communication, not only among the Class of 2015, but among the entirety of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.   The Raven: Why/How will you be an effective leader for the Class of 2015? Please address any other issues/ initiatives/ programs that you wish to pursue, instate, or develop as the SBA Class of 2015 President.    Ryan: To be an effective leader for the Class of 2015, I plan to draw on my experiences from several positions I have held which required me to manage the direction of initiatives, develop and coordinate enterprises, and handle competing interests with equitable attention. As the first President for the Class of 2015, I want to lay the groundwork of success. This will include programs to promote greater interaction among students in the hopes that such collaboration will create lasting friendships which may become professional relationships as well; provide support to alleviate some of the stressors of our workloads; and make our time together a more enjoyable and gainful experience.

BETSY JOHNSON Hometown: Frederick, MD Undergraduate Institute and Major: Wheaton College- History, Spanish, Secondary Education: Master's, Hood College- American History: Civil Rights and Liberties Work Experience: High School History Teacher Legal Field of Interest: Education Law and International Human Rights: particularly education access issues The Raven: As a part of the SBA, you will have an opportunity to ‘develop and promote academic and non-academic programs designed to foster the professional growth of members of the student body’. How will you contribute to this development and what ideas do you have for academic or non-academic programs that will benefit the student body?  In addition, what areas of concern do you hope to address for the Class of 2015?   Betsy: We are facing a tough economy for employment and repayment of student loans so it is essential that we have the training, experience, and knowledge to leave law school prepared. I will work with faculty advisors to provide learning opportunities for loan repayment and employment concerns.  I would also like to promote student mentoring relationships with more experienced faculty, community members, and students as we continue to explore career opportunities. I will work to alleviate the cost of school, if possible, I would also like to advocate to find funding for more scholarship opportunities for students beginning in the 2L and 3L years.   I would like to support academic programs and improve communication regarding different opportunities available to us within the law school. One of the problems that I recognize is the inundation of information within the first month of law school. I would like to improve communication and condense information on all of the clubs, service opportunities, and school events that are applicable to just first year students. The Raven: What atmosphere do you hope to generate in the Class of 2015 (i.e. competitive, supportive, social, etc), and how will you foster this atmosphere?   Betsy: I believe it is very important, and to the benefit of everyone, to have a congenial, friendly, and supportive atmosphere at UM Carey Law. While all of us are very busy, the more fellow students we know, the more comfortable we will feel in class and throughout our years here. It is important to not only have section events but 1L events to meet other students in our same position. After this year, we will all be in different programs and tracks and those friendships will be essential to our law school experience. I will help organize 1L socials, community service opportunities, and encourage intramural sports teams from the 1L class. I think by getting away from the books, and talking, serving, and playing, we can grow together as a class.   The Raven: Why will you be an effective leader for the Class of 2015?   Betsy:  As the president of the Class of 2015, I hope to encourage and support fellow students, organize social opportunities for the class, recruit interesting speakers from various fields, and fight for the best opportunity we can have at the law school. I have served in student government as a student in high school and college and most recently as an advisor for a high school chapter. My experience in organizing events, networking, and bringing people together will help me to lead our class effectively. So please vote Betsy Johnson for your SBA president.   DAVID ZELEDON    Hometown: Miami, Florida Undergraduate Institute and Major: Florida International University (FIU), Finance and International Business Work Experience: Interned for the Internal Revenue Service, and worked for one year with the Vice President of Governmental Relations at Florida International University Legal Field of Interest: International Business Law     The Raven: As a part of the SBA, you will have an opportunity to ‘develop and promote academic and non-academic programs designed to foster the professional growth of members of the student body’. How will you contribute to this development and what ideas do you have for academic or non-academic programs that will benefit the student body? David: It is important to keep the student body involved in school activities in both academic programs and non-academic programs. It is important to engage the student body’s interest with activities in school that will enhance their knowledge for the professional world. I would like to implement a professional network technique. The student leaders in Beta Alpha Psi connected professional alum from FIU with the students in the organization. These gatherings would create an open environment where students can interact with these professionals that they can use as a network and also a mentor.  The best fundamental way to learn is by “hearing it out of the horse’s mouth”,which in this case would be the professors. However, since professors don’t have much time other than their office hours, I believe the next best thing is to pair up 1L students with a 2L or 3L, to promote academic learning from someone that has experienced the first year of law school. Another idea for academic programs is to sponsor some workshops that will develop and teach students how to brief a case, outline for the finals or even take notes in class.  The Raven: What areas of concern do you hope to address for the Class of 2015? David: Students believe that tuition, both in state and out of state, is a major concern in law school. So, a scholarship fund for books can help out many students with minimizing their overall debt. Since employment numbers are bleak and big law firms are defaulting on debt, it is important to maintain a high morale in the law school, especially when students are getting into six digits in debt. It is important to implement new ideas on ways to create your own law firm upon graduation. We can make events and bring in entrepreneur lawyers to give some advice on making your own firm and building your client sheet. It is with no doubt that the troubled economy will shape up by the time my fellow class graduates, but in the meantime it will be important to give options to the student body about the average income for lawyers in the private, public/ government and non-profit sector. Many 1L’s already have an idea of what law they want to study so it will be important to find some resources and obtain figures on wages, so that the student body can begin to finance their debt obligation upon graduation. The Raven: Why will you be an effective leader for the Class of 2015? Please address any other issues/initiatives/ programs that you wish to pursue, instate, or develop as the SBA Class of 2015 President. David: I am a strong candidate for several reasons; I have previous knowledge in dealing with student governance at my undergraduate institution, FIU. When I worked for the VP of Governmental Relations at FIU, I had the duty to work alongside the presidential administration on campus. In doing so, I worked with two separate administrations on problems like money allocation that exceeded 13 million dollars, and balancing the T account in order to account for all the money. I have lobbied in the State capitol of Florida, Tallahassee, for initiatives that would directly affect the State University System (SUS) in Florida, which includes all public universities in the state. I have been in several meetings for my undergraduate institution that include, but are limited to, grant proposals, new buildings for FIU, money cuts that we received after this past legislature session 2012 and the S.T.E.M (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) initiatives. In addition, I have held major leadership roles in student organizations in undergrad; I understand the responsibilities of having people depend on you, and having a self-motivated personality. I look forward to making sure that I will help out with any projects or initiatives until they are finished.   CHELSEA KADISH Hometown:  Westchester, NY Undergraduate Institute and Major: University of Vermont, Environmental Science Work Experience: New York State    Senate (2 years), Riverkeeper, Inc. (2 years) Legal Field of Interest:  Environmental Law, Intellectual Property Law,    Public Policy, and Legislative Law.   The Raven: What areas of concern do you hope to address for the Class of 2015? Chelsea:I can't lower your tuition (unfortunately that's not something that SBA has any influence over) but I can make sure that the portion of your tuition that goes towards student activities is used efficiently and goes towards programs that you actually want.  I've planned a lot of events, in a number of different capacities, but the one thing most of them had in common was that they had to be planned with very limited resources.  It is amazing what you can do with $20 and a few good volunteers.  The types of events I would plan would really be shaped by the input I would get from all of you- tell me what you want and I'll do my best to plan it.  The Raven: What atmosphere do you hope to generate in the Class of 2015, and how will you foster this atmosphere? Chelsea: I chose to come to Maryland because of its student atmosphere-Maryland is a school where students want each other to succeed, are happy to help one another, and genuinely enjoy the company of their fellow students.  If elected SBA President, I hope to foster that same atmosphere and sense of community by providing outlets for students to build relationships outside of the classroom through participation in service projects and social events that will help us get to know our new community (Baltimore) and each other better.  Some of the new ideas that I have for programming include a 1L community service day where students would be able to choose from a variety of different projects and then come back together at the end to discuss their experiences, an inter-section scavenger hunt, and social events planned in different neighborhoods around Baltimore (I love Pickles as much as the next gal, but it never hurts to branch out a little bit).  This is not an exhaustive list, but I hope it give you an idea of what you could expect if you elect me to be your 1L SBA President. The Raven: Why will you be an effective leader for the Class of 2015? Chelsea: I think that I would be an effective leader of the class of 2015 because I genuinely want to help people to find their own work/life balance, I am friendly and approachable, and I believe that my leadership experience gives me good insight into how to plan fun events and raise money for our class.  I have ideas for some more great events, but you'll have to come to the candidates’ forum on Wednesday September 12th at 12pm in room 107, to hear more.