Kari Herinckx

I grew up in Forest Grove, Oregon and went to Forest Grove High. Even at a young age I was committed to helping create change in my community. In high school, I served as class president, student body vice-president and finally student body president. I took my leadership roles very seriously knowing that I had been given the trust of my classmates to represent them. Additionally I worked to outreach not only to my school community, but to the greater state community by serving on the Oregon Association of Student Councils Student Executive Council. Through this experience I realized that making change and being in a position to represent and advocate for others was a passion and a necessity in my life.

This notion was only deepened upon arrival at the University of Oregon. I soon became active in the Black Student Union and the Black Women of Achievement assisting in various events such as the annual Kwanzaa celebration and Higher Learning (a college day for middle school and high school students). I soon realized the importance of advocacy for others for social justice and change on behalf of communities who are often marginalized in larger social contexts. Currently I work in the Multicultural Center as a co-director and I am the ASUO multicultural advocate. Both of these venues have allowed me to engage in extensive work as part of the movement for underrepresented groups to gain accessibility and recognition on campus, as well as supporting other diversity initiatives for our campus. I have also learned that the power is truly in the hands of the students and that through action, education and dialogue we can unlock our abilities to bring about the change we wish to see in this world.

I think the most important thing I have learned through my leadership experiences, has been that being a leader is truly about being a mentor and a guide. Sometimes, an individual is called to action and I have risen to meet those challenges; But more of my work is about building the power of individuals and the collective strength we have together. It is important to me to help people to realize their own power and their own potential to affect change in their communities. My work as an intern with a teen leadership development organization LEAD (Leadership Education Adventure Direction) helps to achieve this very goal by teaching and giving people the skills to help them harness their internal potential. This is one of my fundamental beliefs as a leader: that individuals given the right amount of support, and education have endless potential.

Jesse Hough

Hi, I'm Jesse Hough (pronounced *Huff*) and I'm a junior Psychology major at the University of Oregon. I love going to school at the U of O for various reasons the dynamic sports scene, the interesting class segments and the numerous opportunities to get involved in activity that I fell passionate about. Most of all, I enjoy meeting so many people from all over the world with different life experiences and learning from them.

I strongly believe that getting involved in your community is a great way to strengthen the community and help the people within it. I experienced this first hand in my hometown, Scappoose, right after hurricane Katrina. The devastation caused by the hurricane made me realize how much I have to be thankful for and I decided to support the families affected by the hurricane. With my mom, I organized and hosted a community garage sale to benefit the victims of Katrina. After a week of running around getting people to donate goods, publicizing, and organizing, my mom and I hosted the Hurricane Katrina Relief Sale and raised over $2000 for displaced families in New Orleans. This is a prime example of what can come from communities working together for the common good. Through a simple action such as a garage sale I helped a community realize the power that they had to create positive change in a place far from their own.

Over the past three years, I have tried to be involved on campus at UO and have enjoyed every moment of it. In 2006, after getting a kick out of registering people to vote, I got involved with OSPIRG, a student group that promotes student civil engagement. With OSPIRG, I worked primarily on educating students on climate change, and worked to get students involved in promoting sustainability.

This year, I worked with a group of great students to put on "Step It Up," a global warming awareness rally that amounted to over 300 people marching over to the ASU vs. UO football game to show their passion on the issue. After the rally, I went into the game and celebrated our victory! But, once again, the community of UO came together to send a message on an important issue and make positive change.

In February, I helped to organize a weekend long conference at UO called "Cascade Power Shift - Mobilizing Youth for Climate Justice." We had over 150 students from all over the Pacific Northwest come to UO to learn about the climate crisis we face, and learn how they can work to stop it. After three days of getting ready to take action, I went with 15 other students to the Oregon State capitol to speak with our officials about climate change. I believe in engaging our leaders in the issues that are important to us. After all, isn't it the job of our leaders to represent the needs of the people they serve? I think it is.

It is time for our leaders at every level to start listening to the people they serve and I fully intend to do just that. I strongly believe that leaders must act for the needs of the people and that’s why I'm running for Vice President. Thank you.