Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series profiling the candidates for the Government of the Student Body executive offices.

Mike Banasiak and Ben Albright hope to use past experience with the Government of the Student Body to improve their work for students and their issues if elected as GSB president and vice president.

The pair provide a combination of experience: Banasiak has worked within the executive branch of GSB and Albright has experience within the legislative branch.

As president and vice president, their past experiences will help to improve their ability to be effective and also complement one another, Banasiak said.

The experience will make the executive candidates effective because they know how to address students’ needs, Banasiak said.

“[Banasiak and Albright] have outside sources and resources,” said Casey Harvey, GSB senator for the College of Business.

Banasiak and Albright said they want to make GSB more visible and more approachable to the student body.

They hope to accomplish this goal through the issues addressed on their slate.

The candidates hope to increase communication between the student body and Ames City Council. The function of the GSB president is to facilitate student opinion, Banasiak said.

The current proposal for a student seat on the Ames City Council would provide a student voice on the actual floor of the council, Albright said.

Another goal for the slate is to increase entertainment options for Ames residents under the age of 21. Students are a large demographic of the Ames community, Albright said.

Banasiak said he hopes to continue the work he has done and personalize communication between GSB and other Iowa legislative branches. The goal is to enhance and focus attention on the quality of students’s education and the rate at which tuition increases, he said.

ISU Dining Services is looking to improve the Hub and other facilities already in place. Banasiak and Albright are hoping to work with ISU Dining to institute more areas where students can get quality food on campus, Albright said.

The candidates hope to increase diversity awareness on campus by finding a qualified director of diversity, continuing the monthly conversations on diversity and possibly building a campus multicultural center, Albright said.

Incidents in which derogatory phrases about the gay community have been placed in public spaces could and should be prevented, he said. Banasiak said he and Albright believe they are bringing solid issues to GSB.

“We have started the ball rolling already with things we are currently working on,” Albright said.