Details are important to Ryan Houck. As an accounting and finance double major, he’s constantly “zooming in,” as he puts it, to focus on the small things. The sophomore is now putting that skill set to use in Student Association elections this spring.

If elected, Houck would serve as Kaitlyn Ellsweig’s vice president. Ellsweig is a junior economics and political science double major. Houck said the pair’s openness to new ideas is a positive aspect of their campaign.

Ellsweig and Houck currently spend much of their time bouncing ideas off each other about platform development and other campaign specifics, Houck said. The duo’s campaign manager, Meg Burnard, said she “referees them,” acting as the middleman when the two are too far apart.

“I sit in meetings, and when Katie is dreaming up big ideas and Ryan is nitpicking the tiny details, I bring them both back to the middle where they meet,” she said.

She added that, despite their differences in approach, Houck and Ellsweig balance each other out well. The two met during Houck’s freshman year through the local chapter of Democracy Matters, a non-partisan political advocacy organization. Houck is the group’s fiscal agent and director of technology.

Outside Democracy Matters, Houck is involved with several other student organizations, including the Orange After Dark event board, Beta Alpha Psi and WhiTAX, a student-run accounting firm.

Houck, who grew up in a small town north of Philadelphia called Pen Argyl, said he came to SU to experience a more diverse environment. Houck said he fit in with Democracy Matters but was attracted to the idea of SA leadership after watching the current president and vice president, James Franco and Angie Pati, tackle everything “as a joint team.”

That leadership approach is something Houck said he and Ellsweig would continue, if elected.

“We want to come across as a strong partnership,” he said.

Houck said he looks at the fine points of the bigger topics they want to tackle. Part of looking at those details, he said, means constantly remaining accessible to constituents. The team’s campaign website includes Houck’s and Ellsweig’s personal cell phone numbers and email addresses, so people can contact them at any time.

“If you think of something at 10 p.m., text me,” Houck said. “I want to know about it.”

The candidates are focusing on different parts of the campaign platform. Houck is working on sustainability ideas. Ellsweig said she and Houck might consider implementing new recycling systems at the Carrier Dome or promenade, if elected. Houck wants to better educate the campus community about plastics that can be recycled and how to dispose of textbooks.

Houck said it’s important to adapt the platform to fit students’ needs. Houck said the platform changed after he and Ellsweig met with different student organizations.

“We’re not here to push through our own initiative for ourselves, we’re here to represent the student body,” he said. “We’re here to listen to them constantly. We wanted this to be the students’ platform.”

Published on April 2, 2018 at 9:42 pm

Contact Colleen: cefergus@syr.edu | @ColleenEFergus2