Meet Your 2021/22 Student Union President-Elect: Samantha MacLean

By Yakosu Umana

Samantha MacLean’s friends and acquaintances believe she has what it takes to advocate for UPEI students, and it’s led her to take on a new challenge.

“It’s really the motivation and push from my friends and the community that gave me the confidence to put my name forward, “ MacLean said.

The UPEISU held its winter elections for executive and faculty representative positions, last week.

MacLean was announced as the UPEISU president-elect for the 2021/22 academic year.

“I’m really excited that students put their faith in me to let me do this,” MacLean said.

The fourth-year business major is currently the president of Enactus UPEI, a student entrepreneurship program, and the SU’s Business student representative.

She was the only candidate to run for SU presidency, however, she wants that to change next year.

One of her mandate goals is to increase the number of students running for UPEISU positions.

From her experience, she knows it’s challenging to run a campaign, MacLean said.

“This could be discouraging for students on putting their name forward because it’s kind of like unknown territory.”

MacLean plans to hold workshops that help students prepare for election campaigns.

Another goal in her mandate is to create more transparency from the UPEISU to students.

“For an organization to be held accountable and credible, a level of transparency should be maintained,” MacLean said.

The UPEISU holds their internal executive evaluations privately, and the SU executive members aren’t allowed to speak about these meetings to the public.

That’s an issue because students need to hold their elected representatives accountable, MacLean said.

“Students are the ones that basically employ the executives, and they could possibly not know how well they’re doing…”, MacLean explained.

“I think they deserve to know what they’re putting their money and faith towards to, and know what they’re are doing from a kind of internal point-of-view.

Maclean said she is well prepared for the challenges of the next academic year.

“I’ve been in communication with a few of the past presidents, leading up to my campaign, talking about what the job entails, what could go wrong, what could go right.”

Her experience as a student, and previous leadership roles, has her well equipped for the new role, she said.

“I’m going into my fifth year, so I’ve been doing this university thing for a while and I’ve definitely experienced the highs and lows of being a university student…” MacLean said.

“I’m used to time management, dealing with conflict and course loads.”

This fall, UPEI plan to slowly transition back to normalcy with a blended delivery model.

MacLean said she is ready to expect the unexpected and is looking forward to an exciting school year.