Iowa State’s seniors will choose their leaders this week.

Elections for the 1997-98 Senior Class Council will be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2. Only students with a senior classification are eligible to vote for a president/vice president slate at Carver Hall, Parks Library or the Memorial Union.

This year’s race pins John Hobson and Phil Lockhart against Andy Lashier and Liza Lucas.

Hobson is a junior in marketing who grew up in north-central Iowa, but now calls Longmont, Colo. home. His running mate, Phil Lockhart, is a junior in aerospace engineering from Dubuque.

Lashier is a junior in finance from Marshalltown. His running mate, Liza Lucas, is a junior in history from Letts.

Dindy Cunard, a senior in elementary education, is the chairwoman of the election committee. She said a list of students who will be allowed to vote will be posted at voting sites. All students who will be classified as seniors next year are encouraged to vote.

Cunard said Senior Class Council is an important organization because it provides services to all seniors, and tries to bring together all the members of the graduating class.

The president’s job is to organize events such as Senior Week, oversee the committees in Senior Class Council and make suggestions as to activities that can be planned for events and purchasing the senior class gift.

“We’re excited about the possibility of being a part of this,” Hobson said. “One, it [SCC] represents a large body of students at Iowa State. Two, it’s giving something very large back to the university in the senior gift. And three, it’s kind of a coming together organization,” Hobson said.

“The only limit [to the organization] is that we’re seniors,” Lashier said. “Liza and I would like to try and get the whole class together by having big recruitment drives in the fall. We’d like to make the council more cohesive.”

Lashier said a weakness of the SCC is that it does not bring together a wide spectrum of students from within the class.

Both slates said they see opportunity for increased involvement in next year’s SCC, as well as increased publicity of council events. Hobson said he can do a lot with publicity.

“Publicity needs to be improved. People need to be made aware of what’s going on,” he said. “If people are aware of what’s going on, they can take advantage of the fun.”

“We want to publicize social events, but also increase the number of social events,” Lashier said.

In addition to social events, Lashier said the SCC can better serve the senior class by providing greater educational opportunities. Lashier and Lucas are proposing educational seminars for seniors on how to interview and how to look for a job.

Hobson said he and Lockhart would like to some new things with Senior Week and try to get some better cross-campus activities going.

“We’d like to do some unique things,” Hobson said.

Hobson serves as chairman of the Iowa State Daily Publication Board and is president of ISU Groove, the Cyclone drumline.

“I belong to a number of organizations so I know a lot of people and that allows me to have a great strength with networking,” Hobson said.

Lashier, a member of FarmHouse Fraternity, has served on the Student Alumni Association, which is the parent organization of the SCC, for two years.

“I’ve kind of lived through college seeing the job and wanting to do it,” Lashier said of the SCC president.

There will be a “Meet the Candidates” session today at 1 p.m. in the Oak Room of the Memorial Union.