Mackenzie Mertikas has always worked behind the scenes for Syracuse University’s Student Association. Now, with her campaign for SA president, Mertikas hopes use what she’s learned to make improvements both within SA and across SU as head of the organization.

Mertikas, a junior public relations and political science major, worked her way up from being a general Assembly member during her sophomore year at SU to SA’s chief of staff this year. Still, she wants to become more involved in SA next year – making her presidential campaign seem like a natural step, she said.

The heart of her campaign is putting students first, Mertikas said. It’s reflected in her campaign slogan: “Start the wave.”

“A wave to us is super powerful, and strong, and resilient, and it has the ability to push forward and move things,” she said. “And to us, it means that we’re able to be taking everything we hear from students and push that forward and make that the key points that we’d be working on next year.”

This wave is only the beginning of change at SU, not the end result, Mertikas said. If elected, she hopes to give students the tools and opportunities they need to spark their own change and become more involved in SA’s decision-making process.

Mertikas is running alongside Sameeha Saied, a sophomore psychology major. The fact that she and Saied are both women is very important to Mertikas, she said.

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She said that SU as a whole lacks female representation and in many areas is controlled by white men. Mertikas said that she hopes her campaign will be empowering for other women, especially in the current political climate.

Mertikas and Saied met through their involvement in planning various “Stressbuster” events at SU, as well as through organizing Mental Health Awareness Week, Mertikas said. The two are now close friends, so when Mertikas decided in late November to run for SA president, she immediately contacted Saied.

“I think it’s really important that your friends with the person you’re doing this with, and that you have common goals,” Mertikas said. “That’s one of the reasons why I asked Sameeha, because I knew we shared a lot of the same goals on this campus.”

The two share a passion for student health, Mertikas said, which led them to include health and wellness as a key part of their campaign. She said that she hopes to transform the way SU handles student health, particularly mental health. One of their first steps would be to require all faculty to receive mental health training so they are better equipped to help students, she said.

She said she also wants to inform students about the services covered by SU’s health and wellness fee. Many students are unaware of what the fee is used for, she said. Mertikas thought back to Mental Health Awareness Week, when a student came up to her and thanked her for letting him know about the mental health resources available to him at SU, Mertikas said.

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“They said, ‘I didn’t know that anyone really cared about me or my mental health,’” Mertikas said. “For me, it’s interactions like that, that’s why I want to do this. If we can do anything to help one student on this campus, I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

Mertikas is running on four other platforms in addition to student health: diversity and inclusion, financial accessibility, community engagement and transparency and accountability.

She said it’s important for students to know what their student government can do for them.

“I’ve had the ability to see all of the amazing things that SA can do,” Mertikas said. “But a lot of things happen behind the scenes, and a lot of students don’t really know what’s going on.”

In addition to her work in SA, Mertikas is a member of the Phi Sigma Pi gender-inclusive honors fraternity, a Relay For Life executive board member and the president of the Traditions Commission, which organizes events such as homecoming and the Winter Carnival.

Julia Howard-Flanders, Mertikas’ campaign manager, said that upon meeting Mertikas she instantly knew she wanted to work with her. Howard-Flanders said that Mertikas’ experience in SA, combined with her hard-working and friendly nature, makes her a perfect fit for president.

“She and Sameeha are both incredible women who are just so powerful and driven,” she said. “I think that no matter what they set their minds to, they can achieve it.”

Published on March 31, 2019 at 10:43 pm

Contact Gillian: gifollet@syr.edu