| Ashland native Madaline Enos said that while she has always been interested in environmental sustainability and enacting change, her life focus differs significantly from when she was in high school. “Now I’m more into enacting policy to get change,” she said, “rather than violent revolution.”After leaving Ashland High her sophomore year to attend a yearlong program at the environmentally based Wilderness Charter School, the California-born Enos became bedridden for five months with a case of mononucleosis due to a weak immune system. Though she had completed the program and briefly returned to Ashland High, she had to leave school again because of her illness. She recovered and moved on, grabbing her GED and heading to Italy with her aunt to study at the Language Institute in Rome.Only a short time later she was in Portland, going to school at Portland State and getting involved.”I came back to the U.S. with a renewed enthusiasm for academia,” Enos said. Enos co-founded and now co-edits Pathos Literary Magazine, is the coordinator of the Student Organization Council (SOC) and has volunteered for the Women’s Resource Center.The Community Development major said her experience with SOC has given her valuable experience that will enable her to be a successful Student Fee Committee chair. Enos has handled the registration and budgets of over 100 small student groups with SOC, responsibilities she said are similar to the duties of the SFC chair. She said that even though she lacks experience with the SFC, her experience in the SOC has taught her a great deal about the general process and structure of the work. Her goal is to make the entire process of the SFC more accessible to the student body.”I want to make the student body aware of how [the SFC] allocates funds,” she said. “I will create a place for students to have a stronger voice in how money should be best allocated.”She said that having been a member of a student group that applied for SFC funding, she has compassion for those applying. In general, she wants education and all aspects of the university to be accessible to everyone.Enos said that the university has done a lot for her, and now she wants to repay it.”I want to love it back and make it better,” she said. |
For Kayla Goldfarb, involvement in her school is a way of life.She has been a part of a multitude organizations at Portland State, including ASPSU, Students for Unity and the Jewish Student Union. “I’ve always been a leader, standing up against corruption,” she said.Goldfarb, who like Enos is from Ashland, Ore., was student body treasurer in high school and described her current pursuits as continuing in that direction.The graphic design major came to PSU because it was her only option, she said, according to an online test at least.”I took an online college test and PSU was the only school to come up,” because of her interest in activism and advertisement, she said.It did not take long for Goldfarb to get involved at PSU. She was living in the Ondine her freshman year when she heard of a rape that occurred in the building. She and a neighbor, who was a part of Students for Unity, reacted by teaching a sexual assault workshop. After the workshop, Goldfarb wanted to continue this activism and became involved herself with Students for Unity.Her involvement there led to student government.”That year, there was corruption and racism happening in ASPSU,” she said. “We heard about it and got a senate meeting shut down. I felt inspired by that movement to hold ASPSU accountable.”The Jewish Student Union coordinator followed inspiration by running for the SFC and for a senator position as a freshman and was elected to both.Now, running for SFC chair, Goldfarb is hoping that she will be able to help keep the student government, especially the SFC, accountable and fair. She is running on the Klute/Johns slate because she feels that they hold up the ideal of diversity of thought, even though they may not be considered the liberal ticket.”I don’t think ideology should be what I should be running for,” she said, “but for leadership.”Goldfarb said she believes that her experience, leadership and passion for the job make her the best candidate. She said that in previous years there was chaos in the SFC, due largely to poor training and a high turnover.”People didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “I want to change that. I want to unite the SFC together so they’re sure of what they’re doing.” |
