Zackary Reece, junior in political science, and Cole Button, sophomore in finance, are asking for students’ votes for executive office in the upcoming Student Government elections.

Reece, who is running for president, is a United Residents of Off-Campus senator, and Cole Button, the vice presidential candidate, is an Inter-Residence Hall Association senator. They both serve on the rules committee of Student Government and between the two of them, they represent all undergraduates at Iowa State.

Button originally approached Reece about running for office.

“Zack is the ideal president,” Button said. “If I wanted anybody to be president it would be him and that’s why I approached him. He is the president the students deserve.”

Reece originally thought about getting an internship and possibly studying abroad before deciding to run for president, but has since changed his mind.

“I think serving the students and representing them to the best of my ability is a much more important thing than studying abroad or anything like that,” Reece said. “This is something I’d much rather pursue.”

The main platforms Reece and Button are promoting can be summed up in three words: health, safety and comfort.

“We care about the student experience here,” Reece said. “Cole and I want to make sure everybody has the best experience at Iowa State.”

The Thielen Student Health Center is a big issue for them. It now has a new director, Erin Baldwin, who is working with the Student Health Advisory Committee, and Reece is currently the liaison between the committee and Student Government.

“We want to make sure we are reaching the goals that the [Keeling] report laid out and going beyond those goals,” Reece said. “We want to have a superior health center on campus.”

Reece also believes student mental health is a serious issue that is usually swept under the rug and feels administration and Thielen need to take a serious look at getting students the care they need.

With the increasing enrollment at Iowa State, gyms on campus have naturally seen an increase in activity. Reece and Button want to see more equipment such as more weights and dip belts in the gyms.

“We just want students to be comfortable,” Reece said.

The safety of their platform includes better lighting on campus. Button recently introduced a bill in Student Government that was tabled that would have replaced all of the lights between Carver Hall and Parks Library with LED bulbs, and construct four new light poles in that area.

“That area would be much, much brighter [and safer] than is currently is,” Button said.

Button would also push for more CyRide shelters, something that has become a concern with the influx of new students each year. He also got student legal services to include an area on its website dedicated to sexual assault and what help and services are available to survivors of assaults.

“I just wanted to help with sexual assaults anyway I can, and [those are] the solutions I have thought of so far,” Button said.

The comfort aspect of their campaign includes multiple initiatives that would make life easier and more comfortable for ISU students. A big issue is improving campus Wi-Fi.

“It’s gotten better than it was, but with increased enrollment, it needs to speed up improvement,” Button said. “We have to continue to make improvements.”

Aging buildings also present a concern. Desks in Gilman Hall and other buildings are very uncomfortable, Button said. He challenged ISU President Steven Leath to try these desks. Leath later agreed that something needs to be done about the aging infrastructure, Button said.

“I’m going to continue to push for new desks in Gilman and any other desks that need replacing,” Button said.

Reece and Button said they just want to improve the student experience on campus.

“Health, safety, comfort is something every student can obtain here at Iowa State,” Reece said. “Shaping the student experience is something Cole and [I] are all about.”

To learn more about the candidates, view their Facebook page at Rebuild with Reece and Button or their twitter account @Rebuild_ISU.