Hi All,

My name is Mitchell Gale and I am in my 4th year of Computing Science and have been the Treasurer of the Computing Science Student Society for the past 2 years. I have really enjoyed my time as Treasurer but I would love to have a bigger impact on the society as President. The President plays an important role in the society, acting as spokesperson for the society to companies, faculty, and staff within SFU. It also plays an important role in working with and planning events with other executives, this includes large events like the Silicon Valley trip and hackathons.

For those who are new, welcome to SFU and I hope to see you around campus! If you have been active on the CSSS discord server anytime in the past 3 years you may have seen me frequently helping students and answering questions. Feel free to say hi to me on there, or say hi in person when we go back to campus.

This election is a very important one, it will start off online during the summer and transition to in person later in the year. Many of you who have been to the Burnaby Campus for classes may remember the CSSS Common Room in the Applied Science Building, with the current construction (http://www.sfu.ca/fas/asb-reno.html) our common room will look different when we are able to go back. If you haven't been to the common room, in it you can find a microwave, pop machine, place to make tea or coffee, study spaces, as well as an area to socialize and make friends. With the renovations (currently) scheduled to be finished sometime in Fall 2021, I will work with the CS department and the Applied Science Department to get common room space and to make sure the space is nicely furnished. The space we get after the renovations are done will impact the computing science community at SFU for decades to come. I know the importance of getting common room space back and will work hard for us to get it.

As treasurer I ran our first Fall Hacks hackathon which was a 8 hour hackathon held in Fall 2020 as well as held our annual Mountain Madness 24 hour hackathon during this past reading break. I was also responsible for writing grant request forms, and dealing with handling reimbursements for purchases for our variety of events.

Some things I want to accomplish as President:

• Continue to run both Fall Hacks and Mountain Madness because those are two very successful events.
• Continuing and running more "alumni nights" where graduated students come to talk about their work, how they got to where they are, as well as answer questions.
• Run git (and other) workshops which can serve as an introduction to git or to learn some additional git features.
• Once we are back on campus I want to start selling hoodies, t-shirts, and other merchandise!

The CSSS used to run annual trips to Silicon Valley to tour companies in that area, before the Pandemic there was talk about making a similar Toronto Trip to tour many of the companies local to Toronto. I would love to help plan and organize that as President.

My 2 years of experience as an executive for the CSSS will allow me to help transition new executives into their positions. I have enjoyed being treasurer for the past 2 year and would like to continue to be an executive of the society. I look forward to being able to work with a new exec team, help with the running of the society, planning of events, planning of the new common room and getting funding for the events. I would love to be the next president of the Computing Science Student Society President.

Feel free to reach out at mgale@sfu.ca or message me on discord at mitch#4755 if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Mitchell Gale

Hi everyone,

I’m John Wu, and I am running to be the President of the Computing Science Student Society for the 2021 term. If you’ve participated in one of the many CSSS events this past year, then I’ve definitely played a part in organizing that. As the Director of Events over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of hosting events for our students and gained a lot of insight into what goes into running the society. Between my work as DoE, as well as the organizer of CSSS Frosh Week 2020, I believe that it is apparent that I’m willing to put in the work towards making the CSSS as great as it can be.

As President, I will strive to do the following:

• Have the Executive Team be more accessible to student concerns regarding school and society matters.
• Develop the CSSS towards becoming a more welcoming and inclusive community for all Computer Science students.
• Build deeper connections with the other FAS DSU’s. (Software Systems, Engineering, Mechatronics, and Sustainable Energy Engineering)
• Work towards having more professional development opportunities such as workshops and job fairs.
• Reform email procedure to have less quantity and more quality emails.

It is my hope that I can help the CSSS prosper. If elected, I’ll do my best for all of the students in the School of Computing Science. Use your vote to help me help you make the student experience as painless as possible.

John Wu

Hello CSSS members,

My name is Shiva Sanei, I'm a 5th-year student in Computer Science. I'm the former Assistant Director of Events (ADOE) and the former treasurer for WiCS. I'm now running for CSSS Vice President.
If I get elected, beside chairing CSSS meetings, I'm planning to promote more workshops and networking events for computing science students. While I was ADOE, I ran weekly events throughout my whole term. I was also one of the people involved in planning 2 networking/workshop events. One was the "AMA event with SFU alumni from PayPal'' and the other one was the "Coffee and Code with Distributed Computers". If I become elected as Vice President, I will run and promote more of these types of events. I would also like to improve the CSSS's relationship with other student unions by organizing more events with different student unions in Applied Sciences and other faculties.


Thank you,
Shiva Sanei

Hello all,


My name is Ari, and I am an Nth year Computing Science and Mathematics double major. I have been involved with the CSSS for many years, benefiting from its events, resources, and sense of community. Although I have never had the opportunity to hold a position as of yet, I am dedicated to contributing to this society that has made my time at SFU feel so special.

As Treasurer, I would continue to uphold the exemplary standards for the job that my predecessors have set. This involves keeping clear and transparent financial records, accurately tracking the society’s expenses, and keeping members of the society up-to-date with its financial state. I would also be involved in budgeting and financing events held by the society, from large (e.g. Frosh, Mountain Madness) to small (e.g. board game nights).

I have experience in dealing with student matters as a founder and current president of the SFU Competitive Programming Club, and I feel that I am well connected within the student body. I am a careful and organized person, and would put my most thorough efforts into handling my job within the CSSS.


Thank you very much for your time and consideration,
I hope to be able to serve our community,
Ari Blondal

Hello everyone, my name is Truman Bui. I’m a fourth year MACM student who enjoys long walks on the beach, intimate conversations, and forgetting + C after solving indefinite integrals. I am legally married to the CSSS Coca Cola Machine, so I have an established relationship. For this coming election I am running to be your next Director of Resources.

As Director of Resources, I will ensure that:

• The coke machine is always stocked
• When available: there will be more variety in the coke machine.
• The common room supplies remain stocked and readily available

The previous year has been hard for everyone, and I’d like to ensure that people that decide to come back to school as soon as this fall term can have as relaxing a time on campus as possible. Should the ASB renovations finish come fall, I’ll make sure to supply students with coffee, tea, disposable cups, and masks on top of everything else you’ve enjoyed in the common room before.

I have a Costco membership to supply large quantities of cheap supplies for the CSSS.
Last term, there were things I wanted to do but couldn’t do to time restraints, such as: a suggestion box, adding students’ projects as decoration, and dimmer lights for late-night studying.


I have previous experience as an Exec at Large and Director of Resources.
During my previous terms, I’ve brought in

• A new microwave.
• A communal desktop.
• A CSSS tent for events.
• A new couch.
• A lounge table near the door.
• A new cabinet and replaced all locks.
• and fixed all the lights.

Of course, I couldn’t do this without the help of my amazing fellow execs, like Sarbjot Mann, Justin Yan, Cole Greer, Oscar Smith-Sieger, Celina Wright, Kia Mirsalehi, Shiva Sanei, John Wu, Shariq Ahsan, and Dina Zeng, as they elevated my cooperation skills and I hope to improve on them even more this term.




Thanks,

33rd President of USA: Truman

Salutations All,

My name is Dusan and I am a 4th year Computing Science major who has been involved with the society since my first month at SFU. I have been an executive of the society for the past 3 years as Director of Archives, and now plan on running for Director of Resources during our transition from remote to in person learning.

As I have been an executive of the Society for the past 3 years I have been up to date with our current common room situation and I believe I will be able to help our society secure a new common room after ASB renovations are complete; Or an interim one for the time being.

One of my first actions would be to kick start our merchandising as soon as possible once the pandemic is dealt with, members of the society have constantly been asking about sweaters and hoodies; So instant action is required. I will also investigate what options we have for the distribution of our merchandise via the internet, as our current system relies on people coming to the common room to collect their merchandise.

Another goal of mine is to work on expanding merchandising of the society and conducting surveys to find out what students want to see from such a move. For example, I would expand the colour selection of our clothing to include pink, as I have heard many inquiries from students recently asking for such a selection.

Cheers,
Dusan Kovacevic

Hello everyone, my name is Justin Yan, a CS major who is wrapping up his second year here at SFU, and I am running for the position of Director of Resources. You might know me as a person who has frequented the Common Room back when classes were in-person or have seen me at previous faculty-wide events including Midnight Madness and the Trivia Nights. or even sought help from me at CS Peer Tutoring.
As a candidate for this election, I have extensive leadership and mentorship experience that I can apply towards my role as an executive of the CSSS:
I was previously one of the executives-at-large in the Spring 2020 semester who ensured that the pop machine was well-stocked and helped in the planning of the Mountain Madness Hackathon that year. I am also currently the Communications Director for the recently re-formed Cognitive Science Student Society, having co-hosted a games night and ran this year’s SFSS Council Representative Election so far.
I have taken on the role of a leader in multiple different settings, including being a Frosh Mentor at the most recent Frosh Week last September by assisting first year students in Frosh Activities. I have also been a mentor for TechConnect in the Fall 2020 semester, hosting virtual workshops and check-ins with students of the cohort throughout the semester.
I have worked almost a year as a Faculty of Applied Sciences Student Ambassador, meeting with prospective Applied Sciences students and speaking at webinars and workshops, which helps me improve my communication and public speaking skills. My ability to relay information to others is further exercised as a CS Peer Tutor, a position which I have been serving since Fall 2020.
As the Director of Resources, I will:
Ensure that our newly renovated common room is a safe space for all members and non-members of the CSSS when in-person instruction returns,
Work with the Execs-At-Large and other willing execs to maintain tidiness of the common room.
Additionally, with the return to in-person instruction looming, I am conveniently located a 15-minute drive or bus ride away from the Burnaby campus, providing me with the ability to be summoned to campus on short notice.
Thank you for taking the time to read my speech, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the semester!
Justin Yan

Hello members, I’m Argus, the previous Director of Communications and I’d like to run for Director of Events for 2021.


During my tenure as Director of Communications, I realized that students were displeased with the number of emails being sent by the Society and endeavoured to reduce the amount of emails sent. With regards to the Discord server, my moderation team and I created “The Atrium”, a virtual common room that gave students a space to hangout and talk. We also created a number of channels based on your suggestions in #server-suggestions, such as #computer-hardware and #music-discussion. In addition, I worked in conjunction with Shiva, the previous Assistant Director of Events to plan and run the Coffee and Code event in our server which went quite well.


As can be seen, I have a good track record with listening to our members and acting on their suggestions. If I become elected as Director of Events, I will do the following:

• Host more Gaming Tournaments (CsGo, Valorant, Chess…)
• Host a larger variety of events instead of just the traditional board game nights

And as the pandemic restrictions relaxes, host:

• Pub Crawls
• Outdoor outings (e.g. Bonfire night, Camp night… Depending on students’ interests)
• Movie nights

Thanks for taking the time to read my speech.

I believe that I will be able to do a good job as Director of Events and host events that members will enjoy.


Yours Sincerely,
Argus (Chun Kei) Li

Hello everyone, my name is Justin Yan, a CS major who is wrapping up his second year here at SFU, and

I am running for the position of Director of Events. You might know me as a person who has frequented the Common Room back when classes were in-person or have seen me at previous faculty-wide events including Midnight Madness and the Trivia Nights. or even sought help from me at CS Peer Tutoring.

As a candidate for this election, I have extensive leadership and mentorship experience that I can apply towards my role as an executive of the CSSS:

I was previously one of the executives-at-large in the Spring 2020 semester who ensured that the pop machine was well-stocked and helped in the planning of the Mountain Madness Hackathon that year. I am also currently the Communications Director for the recently re-formed Cognitive Science Student Society, having co-hosted a games night and ran this year’s SFSS Council Representative Election so far.
I have taken on the role of a leader in multiple different settings, including being a Frosh Mentor at the most recent Frosh Week last September, assisting first year students in Frosh Activities. I have also been a mentor for TechConnect in the Fall 2020 semester, hosting virtual workshops and check-ins with students of the cohort throughout the semester.
I have worked almost a year as a Faculty of Applied Sciences Student Ambassador, meeting with prospective Applied Sciences students and speaking at webinars and workshops, which helps me improve my communication and public speaking skills. My ability to relay information to others is further exercised as a CS Peer Tutor, a position which I have been serving since Fall 2020.

As the Director of Events, I will:
Encourage more collaboration events-wise between different DSU’s, including cross-faculty and multi-disciplinary events to enable students of different interests to mingle with each other,
Advocate for and plan remote events in addition to in-person events even after the quarantine has ended, to cater to students who are inconvenienced by travel time and students who are more comfortable in an online setting.

Thank you for taking the time to read my speech, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the semester!
Sincerely,
Justin Yan

Hello everyone, my name is Justin Yan, a CS major who is wrapping up his second year here at SFU, and I am running for the position of Assistant Director of Events. You might know me as a person who has frequented the Common Room back when classes were in-person or have seen me at previous faculty-wide events including Midnight Madness and the Trivia Nights. or even sought help from me at CS Peer Tutoring.
As a candidate for this election, I have extensive leadership and mentorship experience that I can apply towards my role as an executive of the CSSS:
I was previously one of the executives-at-large in the Spring 2020 semester who ensured that the pop machine was well-stocked and helped in the planning of the Mountain Madness Hackathon that year. I am also currently the Communications Director for the recently re-formed Cognitive Science Student Society, having co-hosted a games night and ran this year’s SFSS Council Representative Election so far.
I have taken on the role of a leader in multiple different settings, including being a Frosh Mentor at the most recent Frosh Week last September, assisting first year students in Frosh Activities. I have also been a mentor for TechConnect in the Fall 2020 semester, hosting virtual workshops and check-ins with students of the cohort throughout the semester.
I have worked almost a year as a Faculty of Applied Sciences Student Ambassador, meeting with prospective Applied Sciences students and speaking at webinars and workshops, which helps me improve my communication and public speaking skills. My ability to relay information to others is further exercised as a CS Peer Tutor, a position which I have been serving since Fall 2020.
As the Assistant Director of Events, I will:
Work with the Directors of Events and Communications to encourage more collaboration events-wise between different DSU’s, including cross-faculty and multi-disciplinary events to enable students of different interests to mingle with each other,
Advocate for and plan remote events in addition to in-person events even after the quarantine has ended, to cater to students who are inconvenienced by travel time and students who are more comfortable in an online setting.

Thank you for taking the time to read my speech, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the semester!

Sincerely,
Justin Yan

Hi everyone,

I’m Jared Murphy, and I want to assist in the creation of events this upcoming year as your Assistant Director of Events.

Being involved in event planning, both on campus and off campus as a leader of different clubs, I have a frankly disgusting amount of experience creating absolute bangers of events that you absolutely will want to come to. Here’s some of my ideas:

• Drinking bubble tea together
• Having a hike
• Eating ice cream together
• Long walks on the beach

Thank you for your consideration,

Jared Murphy

Hello all,

My name is Johnson, but you may know me better by my discord tag Osha (short for Oshawott btw, the most chad pokemon starter!). I am currently a first year CS student and one of the two current first year representatives. I am running for Director of Communications (DoC) for this upcoming election.

As DoC, you can rest assured that I will fulfill the tasks stipulated by the role. This is to say that I will (1) ensure the CSSS continues to maintain strong internal relations with other DSUs, clubs, graduate students, and alumni, (2) continues to maintain the same for external organizations, (3) Promote upcoming events (by our society, and events that align with the CSSS’s interests) on our social media and through email, and finally (4) Help promote and maintain the CSSS discord server.

Although my only experience with the CSSS is being one of the FYRs for the fall/spring term, I’ve also had experience with roles similar to that of the DoC in the past such as being the (1) internal/external relations coordinator for the SFU STEM Fellowship club for the fall/spring term, (2) an ambassador (fancy word for someone who helps fundraise and promote an organization) for Millennium STEM BC (a youth non-profit that organizes the annual TechCon for high-school students) in high-school, and (3) as the logistics coordinator (managing sponsorships, registration, and event promotion) for the VSBSC (a youth non-profit in coordination with the Vancouver School Board that organizes a large annual sustainability conference for high-school students) in high-school.

I am super excited to take the next step in having a larger impact within the CSSS and it would be quite “poggers” indeed to have the honor of being the next DoC. That being said, thank you for considering me and best of luck on your final exams everyone!

Best,

Johnson Luong

Hello everyone, my name is Justin Yan, a CS major who is wrapping up his second year here at SFU, and I am running for the position of Director of Communications. You might know me as a person who has frequented the Common Room back when classes were in-person or have seen me at previous faculty-wide events including Midnight Madness and the Trivia Nights. or even sought help from me at CS Peer Tutoring.
As a candidate for this election, I have extensive leadership and mentorship experience that I can apply towards my role as an executive of the CSSS:
I was previously one of the executives-at-large in the Spring 2020 semester who ensured that the pop machine was well-stocked and helped in the planning of the Mountain Madness Hackathon that year. I am also currently the Communications Director for the recently re-formed Cognitive Science Student Society, having co-hosted a games night and ran this year’s SFSS Council Representative Election so far.
I have taken on the role of a leader in multiple different settings, including being a Frosh Mentor at the most recent Frosh Week last September, assisting first year students in Frosh Activities. I have also been a mentor for TechConnect in the Fall 2020 semester, hosting virtual workshops and check-ins with students of the cohort throughout the semester.
I have worked almost a year as a Faculty of Applied Sciences Student Ambassador, meeting with prospective Applied Sciences students and speaking at webinars and workshops, which helps me improve my communication and public speaking skills. My ability to relay information to others is further exercised as a CS Peer Tutor, a position which I have been serving since Fall 2020.
As the Director of Communications, I will:
Put emphasis and effort into publicizing CSSS Events through physical and digital means to garner eager attendees,
Advocate for remote opportunities to connect with peers within the program even after in-person instruction has returned,to cater to students who are inconvenienced by travel time and students who are more comfortable in an online setting,
Work with the Director and Assistant Director of Events to reach out to different faculties and programs to plan more joint remote and in-person events. Thank you for taking the time to read my speech, I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the semester!
Sincerely,
Justin Yan

Hello there,


My name is Jared Murphy, and I’m excited to be running for Director of Communications. I’m currently a 5thyear student, and I’m finishing up my second year at SFU. Being a transfer student, I believe I have a unique perspective to bring to the table for current CS majors, many of whom have also had to jump through bureaucratic hoops to be a part of SFU. I want to help facilitate communication between all CSSS members, no matter what their background may be or their goals after graduation.Other notable experience I have includes my time as a professional photographer. I’ve taken photos of weddings for couples, so I’m sure I could create a beautiful image for the CSSS with our online presence and draw even more people to the major just based on how beautiful you all are. As your Director of Communications, I plan on being extremely present offline as well as online. I’d love to meet all of you in the common room this fall semester.


Thank you for your time,

Jared Murphy

Hi everyone! My name is Dina Zeng and currently I serve as the first-year representative of the software systems student society and an exec at large for the computer science student society. Next year, I have been elected as the External Representative for the SSSS and I am running for WiCS co-president. As an executive for both student societies, I have organized and facilitated events. I have always placed an emphasis on helping students so, on top of events, helping fellow students as best as I can (answering questions, giving life/course advice etc) have been one of my top priorities. For the SSSS, I organized SFUYEET a first-year weekly bonding and board games night and other events such as SSSSpooktober and the FAS-wide collab event, Snow Day. For the CSSS, I organized a CSSS X SSSS X PSA collaboration trivia night. I enjoy working for the students and I hope to join the CSSS executive team for the coming year. I look forward to meeting all of you in the (hopefully) near future.

Hello there,

I’m Jared Murphy, and I want to be your Director of Archives. I’m a 5th year student, finishing my second year at SFU.


Having been involved in multiple nonprofit opportunities, including involvement with government negotiation meetings, I believe I would be a great fit for this position. I know how to attend meetings, write important things down, and send them to people that want them. I love bureaucracy, so creating more PDFs to bury somewhere online would be right up my alley.
Thank you,
Jared Murphy