Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of three profiles of the Government of the Student Body executive slate candidates.

Innovation, enthusiasm, integrity and ethics define a campaign built on taking a vision and creating a reality.

Government of the Student Body presidential candidate Angela Groh and running mate Christopher Deal said they are campaigning with one idea in mind: “vision to reality.” This concept is based on the ideas they have compiled from students, said Groh, GSB director of government relations.

The slate said it is running on four points: academics, communication, government relations and student services.

Leadership is something with which each of the two candidates is familiar. Groh, junior in political science, has an extensive list of leadership experiences. The notables include creating T.A.P. into the Future, an after-school program using teenagers’ computer experience to help senior citizens use technology; advising ISU Ambassadors; and being a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.

Deal, director of academic affairs and junior in mechanical engineering, said he has been involved with many things at Iowa State, including being 2004 Veishea Tournaments Committee co-chairman, 2005 vice president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and ISU Dance Marathon morale captain.

Both Groh and Deal said they served as student body presidents at their respective high schools, and Groh has been involved with GSB for two years.

She said she decided to run with Deal because he is new to GSB.

“Chris has a more objective view of GSB,” she said. “He hasn’t been involved as long and really brings that outsider’s look of what students think when they hear GSB.”

Deal said he believes he can help make a difference.

“I feel like I can help students, and I feel like I should do all that I can to continue making this a better place,” he said.

Groh said their platform relates to ISU students’ needs, and communicating with students is important. The team said they want to create an off-campus party guide to inform students what to do if a police officer should show up at the door, because law enforcement and off-campus parties are a common concern for many students, she said.

“We are not promoting or discouraging parties, we are just putting out information on what students should do if they don’t want to get arrested,” Groh said.

As a means of making this vision a reality, the slate wants to create an online feedback mechanism so students can voice their opinions, Deal said.

Lists of constituents presented to senators would allow for more direct contact between involved parties, and, in turn, increase student involvement because “a vast majority of students don’t have any idea who their senator is,” he said.

Deal said he and Groh want to get students more involved in committees and task forces. GSB members work on special committees appointed by the GSB president. These committees are open to all students, and he and Groh said they hope to get more non-GSB members involved.

Groh said she and Deal would work for the students and that all of their platform issues could feasibly be finished within the next year.