Dalton Houghton-Schaffer & Cassie Onate (2021)

dalton and cassie group photo

Dalton Houghton-Schaffer & Cassie Onate (2021)

Dalton Houghton-Schaffer

Candidate for President

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What is your academic major/educational track?

  • Bachelors of Innovation in Electrical Engineering.

Why are you running for this position in the Student Government Association?

  • I believe I could bring positive change amongst our student body, liven up our campus life activities for not only incoming freshman but also returning students, and improve our social environment given the great hurdles we have tackled together.

What past experiences would make you a great candidate for the Student Government Association?

  • I have been a student who has lived on campus, in an apartment, and at home; I can understand each side of these situations as they play out with student learning, student health, and student experiences. I have also been a student without a family and a job and am currently a student with a family at home and a job. My understanding of this gives me the opportunity to share my experiences and expand our resources to accommodate both types of students to help them succeed together.

What are some of your hobbies/interests and how are you involved at UCCS?

  • I enjoy the outdoors including hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, water sports, and swimming. I enjoy to spend time with my family and friends. I like to invent on my free time and work with my hands on projects with anything from robotics to wood working. On campus I would go to student events when they were held including sporting events, movie nights, competitions, rec center activities, and was a part of : game board club, switch game club, the racing club, and started an unsponsored club to talk about current events and learn various topics from each of our majors. I do community service throughout the colorado springs community including leading on a reforestation project to help thin the forrest floor by transplanting seedlings to burn scar areas to help with flooding effects and have done a couple on campus services as well.

Cassie Onate

Candidate for Vice President

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What is your academic major/educational track?

  • I am an Anthropology major with two minors. One minor is WEST and the other is linguistics

Why are you running for this position in the Student Government Association?

  • I am for Vice President because I would love to see great change that would better UCCS and keep tradition strong. Our community is a safe space and welcoming to all. I value our standards at UCCS and would enjoy being apart of that action. Dalton Houghton, who is running for President is intelligent, diligent, and extremely hardworking. We both come from different backgrounds and have very different majors, together we would make the best team for running together.

What past experiences would make you a great candidate for the Student Government Association?

  • Past experiences I've had would be my volunteer work, my debate experience, and even including my current job. When volunteering for numerous non-profits around the Denver/Boulder area I learned a great amount of policy making, advocating, and people skills. I've worked with people of all sorts of backgrounds. I've worked with Representative Jonathan Singer and Joe Salazar who have taught me how to place action and help needs of people affiliated with different political parties. I understand how to effectively work with others and come to a compromise. High school debate taught me how to work with others understand hard concepts. I was debate captain for two years which showed me how to be a leader and educate others. As Human Resources at Ranch Foods Direct, I've further my leadership skills. These three experiences, plus several others, have shaped me to be a great candidate for the Student Government Association.

What are some of your hobbies/interests and how are you involved at UCCS?

  • My hobbies outside of UCCS include writing, walking my dog, learning coding from my boyfriend (sometimes), and involving myself in the community. I work with Boulder and Denver non-profits since I haven't found anything in Colorado Springs. During this pandemic it's been hard to find new organizations. I recently joined a Youth Voter Ambassador program with Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR). I was desperate to work once again in a nonprofit and my hometown one in Longmont, CO was to far for me I remembered COLOR from a CIRC State Assembly in Denver and reached out to them to volunteer. I am only involved in Anthropology Club. I came to UCCS a semester late Freshman year and found it hard to find clubs. As Vice President I'd love to update our school’s website and work on being more efficient since I've noticed many students are not involved in clubs due to the same reasons. It's been researched that students involved in clubs pass with higher grades and are more likely to graduate and I'd love to see those statistics in our school rise.