Internal President
- Elyse Wong
External President
- Kate (Jingyi) Zhang
Secretary
- Sarah Park
- Virudhavi Anandan
- Shana Rosenberg
- Octavia Mok
- Sarah Pastor
- Angelica Hu
Design Coordinator
- Lias Doan
Social Events Coordinator
- Octavia Mok
- Sarah Pastor
- Annika Nilsson
- Elyse Wong
- Angelica Hu
Academic Events Coordinator
- Annika Nilsson
- Angelica Hu
Technology and Communications Coordinator
- Sarah Pastor
- Shana Rosenberg
- Stella Dos Santos
Candidate Statements
Lisa Doan: I am running to be part of the SLUGS 2024-25 executive team for the design and marketing coordinator position. I have years of experience in visual arts and design, having graduated from a public arts high school with a visual arts focus. I have done both visual arts and graphic designing for various organizations including a political party riding association, Squash Ontario tournament events, the Toronto District School Board Student Senate, my and through my high school’s student council.
I have also used my visual arts experience in engaging within the UofT linguistics community, such as for event support (e.g., open house entrance sign) and creating humour. Through running for the design and marketing coordinator position, I would like to continue improving student engagement within the broader, undergraduate linguistics community by incorporating further artistic elements in marketing, such as original illustrations.
Stella Dos Santos: I have a combined three years of customer service experience, including my current job at the UofT Registrar, and hold unparalleled administration skills. I am proficient in spreadsheeting, emailing, and notetaking (I would go so far as to consider this a passion).
Octavia Mok: I would like to run as secretary for SLUGS as I am interested in working for the group and getting experience in student leadership positions. I believe that this may be a great way to get experience, as I will be working an important role and can be of great assistance to others within the executive team and other students outside of it.
Sarah Park: Hi I’m Sarah :). I am running to be the slugs secretary. While I don’t have a ton of related experience, I am an extremely dedicated and passionate individual and want to use this as a chance to gather experience. I loved attending slugs events in my first year and it was such a great introduction to the linguistics community for me, I would love the chance to be a part of creating that positive experience for others. This is a community that I’m proud to be a part of regardless and I would greatly appreciate if you could vote for me so I can be involved more closely.
Annika Nilsson: Hi everyone! My name is Annika Nilsson, and I am going into my fourth year in the linguistics program. I was lucky to hold the position of academic coordinator in the 2023-2024 school year and would be ecstatic to continue my work with this incredible organization.
With my previous year of experience in this position, I am well equipped to handle the responsibilities of academic coordinator. This upcoming year, I promise to make the following missions integral to the role:
-Collaborating closely with professors and TAs to make FSG review sessions more specific to each course’s expectations and terminologies
-Using community input to recruit phenomenal lecturers for academic seminars.
-Creating a test bank of student-written practice questions.
I have noticed throughout my time here that UofT linguistics courses often lack practice questions and practice tests, leaving many students with only homework questions and tutorial questions to use for studying. I want to create a program where students can submit practice questions with answer keys for other students to use to study. Ideally, we could create some sort of CCR credit for those who submit the most frequently. If I am elected, I will spend the summer setting this up so that the program can hit the ground running with the new school year.
Thank you for reading, and I hope that you will vote for me so that we can make the linguistics program better together 🙂
Elyse Wong: Hey SLUGS! I’m Elyse, some of you may know me as this year’s design and marketing coordinator. My experience with the linguistics community at UofT has made this year absolutely unforgettable and I hope to do as much as I can to give back to this wonderful community next year. As your internal president, I would love to continue to promote a safe and open space for linguistics undergraduates to connect with each other as well as with faculty and grad students. This year, I managed the union’s social media and represented SLUGS at events such as Communitea, pub nights and seminars, allowing me to become familiar with the organization of SLUGS and to foster relationships with students and faculty, gaining insight into their questions and concerns. As internal president I would like to connect more with students and make sure that SLUGS accurately and actively represents student opinions through regular feedback forms and first/second year representatives so that we can advocate on their behalf. Having planned large events for over 3000 attendees in the past and having assisted with the planning of TULCON this year, I have the experience to plan and expand next year’s conference. I would also like to continue to bring you all more seminars and events such as the research opportunities workshops, skill-building workshops and social events to relax, meet other students and discuss linguistics-related topics. Thank you all, and I hope you’ll consider voting for me!
Virudhavi Anandan: I would like to run for the secretary position because I believe I will be able to perform the tasks of the position successfully. As the secretary I will ensure to put all my efforts in making sure everything is kept track of. Personally, I enjoy keeping track of things and making sure everything is organized. By being the secretary for SLUGS I will put all my effort in making sure all the administrative tasks run smoothly. I believe I qualify for this position because I have experience in maintaining things, such as email and meetings, from my academics and extracurricular activities. I am always keeping track of my emails and by being the secretary for SLUGS I will make sure all email are responded to in a timely manner. I will also make sure all meetings, both internal and external, are kept track of and will be able to provide relevant meeting notes as well as other information, such as how long the meetings were and who attended. My organization skills will further allow me to manage orders and sales of SLUGS merchandise. In general, I would love to be a part of the SLUGS executive team as a secretary because it will allow me to utilize my organizational and managing skills while also letting me become more involved in SLUGS and the linguistics community.
Sarah Pastor: I am interested in this position because I would love to help with the organization of slugs and be an integral part of the exec team. As a frequent attendee of slugs events and meetings, I have shown my commitment to supporting slugs throughout the entirety of the 23/24 academic year. I hope to continue my commitment to slugs as the slugs secretary for the 24/25 academic year 🙂
Kate (Jingyi) Zhang: Hi everyone! my name is Kate, and I am running to be your External President. I am finishing my third year majoring in linguistics and specializing in psychology. As the SLUGS Academic Events Coordinator in the last year, I’ve become familiar with how SLUGS operates. I have experience with budgeting and arranging various SLUGS events like academic seminars, workshops and facilitated study groups. Also, I have experience of collaborating with other student course unions. Moreover, I have clear understanding about how to work as a member of the executive team. Therefore, I believe my experience throughout the past year gives me an advantage in excelling at coordinating within SLUGS as well as communicating with ASSU and other course unions. I appreciate this enthusiastic student community and wish to keep making more valuable contribution in the future. As your External President, I will ensure SLUGS receives the appropriate resources for us to host a variety of events that will ultimately benefit all students. I really hope with my contribution, this community can become even better for all undergraduate linguistics students! So vote for Kate!
Angelica Hu: Hi there! My name is Angelica and I’m a third-year student studying medical anthropology, linguistics, and education & society. I would love to be next year’s Social Events Coordinator of SLUGS as I love planning events and the wonderful linguistics community at UofT. During my time at UofT, I have thoroughly enjoyed all the amazing events that SLUGS runs like CommuniTeas, pub nights, and of course, TULCON! As a result, I’d love to give back to the wonderful SLUGS community by running as Social Events Coordinator. I have valuable program planning and coordinating experience to bring to this role. This includes leading my own educational project The Crime Spot, where we create educational content for youth on criminology and psychology topics, and working as a residence don, where I have planned and lead events such as succulent paint nights, house lunches, and movie nights for over 80 students living in residence. I have lots of creative and wonderful event ideas for SLUGS next year, including language trivia nights, a pub nights, museum trips, movie nights, end-of-year SLUGS formal, and more! I’m always open to feedback so let me know what kind of events you’d like to see as well. Of course, there will be lots of free food for you all. Thus, I hope you’ll vote for me to be SLUGS’s Social Events Coordinator as I’m passionate about linguistics, program planning, and helping you all have more fun at university! Thanks for your consideration and have an amazing day 🙂
Shana Rosenberg: Hi everyone! My name is Shana, and I am double-majoring in linguistics and math, hoping to minor in computer science. I’m running for the position of Technology Director. I have attended several SLUGS events throughout the year, and have really enjoyed being a part of this amazing community. The connections I’ve made at SLUGS events have really shaped my university experience and I hope to contribute to this community next year. I have led RSGs for first year linguistics courses and have attended the FSGs for them as well. I was also the founder and president of a Victoria College club in my first year. I’m interested in computer programming which will make me a good candidate to maintain and update the SLUGS website as well as the discord server. I have experience managing social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. I hope to provide reliable communication to students and further promote SLUGS events. Thank you, and I hope you will consider voting for me 🙂