The Strand sat down with Cynthia Wong, candidate for Vice President Internal (VPI) in the 2018 VUSAC spring elections. Wong’s platform focuses on the idea of “wellness,” and promoting collaboration between commissions.
The Strand: Why are you running to be VPI?
Cynthia Wong: I know a lot of my friends who aren’t very involved with Vic aren’t really feeling welcome here. They feel like it’s a very cliquey bubble, and I know a lot of people addressed that in their platforms, about how they want to increase inclusivity and all that. I was a councillor this year on VUSAC, and I actually felt how supportive the council was, and I was really sad that my friends weren’t able to see that. So I thought that I would apply for VPI because in that way I could help all the other council members maybe see how their events can incorporate a lot of other people that maybe they haven’t thought about.
What skills or experience makes you the ideal candidate for this position?
VPI works a lot with maintaining the council and the structure within it, so I would be working a lot individually with the commissions and the executive to make sure that they’re working with the internal policies. I think that a lot of my previous work in extracurriculars, like playing on teams and working on conferences, where I had to meet and adapt to a lot of different people would really help build and maybe help connect with [council members] individually and hopefully I can stem this into different team building activities so we can create a more supportive environment.
One of the ideas that I had is the idea of mental well-being, and increasing this awareness within the council. I had this previous experience where one of my friends wasn’t taking care of herself, and I saw how she wasn’t understanding her own limitations, and I didn’t want that within the council as well. I didn’t want anyone on council to not take care of themselves when they have such a demanding job, and I think that my experience with my friend would maybe help really establish this type of idea that they should have.
How about your role as a councillor this year? Do you feel that any of that experience especially prepared you to fill the role of VPI?
My role as councillor this year, I worked more with understanding and learning the type of environment the council works in. So like the type of meetings we have and policies. A lot of [my experience] was working with different commissions, and helping out with those type of events. So my role as councillor really helped me build this idea of what the council is, how we work together, and the type of ideas we want to promote.
I feel like because I am a fresher face and I haven’t delved into student politics so much that maybe I could give different ideas that weren’t there before.
Your platform focuses on the idea of “wellness.” That’s a pretty big buzzword, can you explain what exactly “wellness” means in the context of your platform, and what kinds of wellness-based programming you would like to see introduced?
It’s a really huge buzzword in this election. I have a point [in my platform] of this idea of mental wellness awareness training, and it’s more of some activities I was thinking of was setting up situations and problem solving and knowing the kind of thinking people put into doing their events. And maybe in that way I could understand them more, so I can help pave their way through when I do our one-on-one meetings and see how I can help them in those type of situations.
I feel like a lot of wellness is being confident in yourself, and knowing what you can do and knowing that there are people around you that are willing to help you. And being honest with yourself. The idea of mental wellness training is problem solving and creating team building activities so that [council members] know the supportive environment is with them. and a lot of honest talks, and trying to do activities where they can boost their confidence.
You mention one of your goals, specifically for the second semester, would be to promote cross-over events between commissions. How are you going to use your portfolio to promote that?
I feel like I’m using the word team-building a lot, it’s vague and I understand that. It’s a lot of what I would think of as the idea of how council should be an inclusive environment and supportive. So what I would want in the second semester and more type of crossover activities is also this idea of meetings with commissioners and maybe putting commissioners together and trying to see if we can make collaborative events. But this only can really work if the commissioners themselves know each other really well and they’re willing to work with each other. That’s why I [proposed] the second retreat, so that we could really increase and engage with each other in different team bonding activities outside of meetings. That’s one of my main points—trying to build the confidence within commissioners, [so they know] that they can be honest with each other. And in that way hopefully they can work together in kind of crossover events.
It’s a lot of team building activities that I want to incorporate it would be really hard to understand if they would really play out in the future, that depends on each other’s personalities. I just hope I can be there to help facilitate it, and help focus and direct [council] into ways that they feel more comfortable around each other.
What part of your platform are you most passionate about?
The wellness. I feel like we talked a lot more about sustainability and equity this year, not so much on the idea of taking care of yourself. Because I know a lot of people overstress themselves so much that they don’t eat or they don’t sleep, and I really don’t want to see anyone on council [do that]. They’re really passionate about their jobs, but I’m here to check up on them to make sure that they know where their limits are and just keeping everyone in check basically.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
