Kaitlyn Ellsweig has been political for as long as she can remember.

As a child, Ellsweig said she’d talk about politics with her grandfather, who was one of the only politically engaged people in her family.

At 21, she’s still political. She’s launched a bid for Student Association president. And as president of the local Democracy Matters chapter, a nonpartisan political advocacy organization, the junior economics and political science double major remains as socially conscious as possible, even when considering decisions such as her recent haircut.

She’s now sporting a shoulder-length bob. It’s the shortest haircut she’s had since she was 4. She chose to cut it off “on a whim” during Syracuse University’s Relay for Life cancer awareness event earlier this semester.

“Everything that Katie does is pretty much dedicated to helping somebody else,” said Meg Burnard, Ellsweig’s campaign manager and close friend. “She wants to help people.”

Outside Democracy Matters, Ellsweig is an EMT for SU Ambulance. She tutors kids as a volunteer at the Northside Learning Center. She’s been involved on campus since her freshman year, but this campaign is her first venture into student government.

She announced her candidacy in mid-March, along with her running mate Ryan Houck, who’s campaigning for vice president. Neither have previously served in SA. Ellsweig’s campaign is student-driven and based on a platform of accessibility, community engagement, inclusion and sustainability, she said. She and Houck were the first students to announce an SA campaign this spring.

If elected, Ellsweig will need to give up some of her extracurricular activities, but she said it’s worth it. She has a chance to give the student body new opportunities.

“Knowing what SA has accomplished … has made me realize that I’ve had so many amazing opportunities as a student on this campus,” she said.

She hopes to provide resources to students who need them that haven’t always been available to her or students from other backgrounds, Ellsweig said.

Aspects of Ellsweig and Houck’s campaign are centered around civic engagement. Ellsweig said she hopes to instill civic values in others because she has benefitted from her own outreach at SU.

She said students often inaccurately view the areas surrounding University Hill and don’t always engage with the local community because they’re told it’s dangerous. Ellsweig said she wants the city and university to exchange respective strengths and weaknesses so SU can build partnerships and become a less secluded campus.

Working on campus issues requires SA leaders to follow up on solutions proposed by university administrators, she added. She referenced a 2016 report by Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion, which included ways to increase representation on campus. She said two years later, many of those ideas have still not been implemented.

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The New Jersey native said she has struggled with depression since middle school. Sometime near March 2017, she found herself relapsing. Ellsweig said she called SU’s Counseling Center but was told staff there did not have resources that fit her needs.

“That’s something that really stuck with me and affected me for a really long time, so it’s something I’m definitely very passionate about, making sure that we continue to push for those resources,” she said.

Her own struggles with mental health have helped give her an appreciation for peers, Ellsweig said. She had to seek support from friends and professors to recover, and the process left her with a positive outlook on the people in her circle, Ellsweig said.

“It transformed the way I view people at this school. I just have such confidence in the character of the people around me, and that came from how people helped me and how people responded,” she said.

People around Ellsweig have confidence in her as well.

Elizabeth Ashby, an assistant professor of economics at SU, met Ellsweig when she took Ashby’s course as a freshman. The professor has stayed in touch with Ellsweig since. Ashby said she was impressed by Ellsweig’s commitment to putting her knowledge to good use.

Ashby said Ellsweig has a “deep sense” of civic responsibility, humility and an understanding of social issues and policy. She added that Ellsweig’s focus on helping others will propel her to victory during the SA election.

“She uses her intelligence as a way to better the world,” Ashby said. “This is who Katie is. Everything she’s learning she has a purpose for.”

Published on April 2, 2018 at 9:26 pm

Contact Colleen: cefergus@syr.edu | @ColleenEFergus2