At an open forum for next year’s Concurrent Education Student Association (CESA) executive, uncontested Team ECG shared their vision for transparency, advocacy, community—and their love for potatoes.
The CESA election is underway with Team ECG, consisting of Presidential candidate Emily Gluckman, Vice-President (Internal) candidate Claire Gravill, and Vice-President (External) candidate Grace Baillargeon, all ConEd ’27, at the forefront of the race. The forum took place on Feb. 7, allowing Concurrent Education students to meet their potential future student leaders and learn about their platform.
The forum lasted roughly 15 minutes with approximately 30 people in attendance. Candidates opened with prepared statements, answered three questions from the audience, and wrapped up with closing remarks.
Baillargeon, currently on exchange, was unable to attend the forum in person. She tuned in virtually, giving a brief introduction about herself and the position she’s seeking.
In a hybrid format, the trio then took the floor by addressing the three pillars they’re running on—transparency, advocacy, and community.
“We want to try and make this [CESA] a community that has everyone feeling open and willing to come to us with any ideas, any problems that might come up, as well as any brilliant ideas that you may have,” Gluckman said.
The candidates were asked how they plan to manage having both professional and personal relationships with those on CESA Council, which governs the Association. In response, Gravill drew a teaching analogy she believes ConEddies could relate to.
“As all of us know, because we’re all in ConEd, everybody has kind of a different teaching persona. We’re able to speak up, talk a bit more confidently, and not use the slang that you would normally use in a day-to-day sense, and we know that that’s something we’re going to incorporate into our roles as an executive. When we need to be professional, we can be professional,” Gravill said.
To round out the question period, the candidates were asked to dive into their favourite kinds of potatoes.
Gravill chose mashed potatoes, while Gluckman narrowed it down to mashed potatoes, smiley French fries, and hashbrowns—but couldn’t choose a favourite. Over FaceTime, Baillargeon declared hers were hashbrowns.
In their closing statement, Gluckman encouraged students to use their ability to vote.
“It’s incredibly important to be able to share your voice. Please let that voice click, yes, not no, not abstain, please have that voice click yes,” she said.
Voting for CESA candidates will take place Feb. 12 through 13 on Simply Voting for all Concurrent Education undergraduate students.
Tags
CESA, CESA elections, Concurrent Education, Concurrent Education Students’ Association, debate, Elections 2025
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.