Introduction
The 2023-24 student body president elections begin March 2 at 9 a.m., to March 3 at 12 p.m. Each candidate was interviewed by The Battalion to share their platform and vision for Texas A&M.
* – candidate asked to redo a question or section
(()) – intelligible or unclear what candidate said
Click the next button on the left side of the screen to view the candidates’ transcripts in alphabetical order.
Bailey Greenwood, 2023-24 SBP candidate interview
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Bailey Greenwood.
What is your name, major and classification?
Howdy, my name is Bailey Greenwood, and I am a junior who is studying health and psychology with a concentration in race, gender and ethnicity.
What organizations are you involved with?
I am involved in Pi Beta Phi. I am on staff for The Big Event. I am involved in [Student Government Association], in recruitment for Aggie Miracle, on development for [Conference on Student Government Association, or] COSGA, and I serve as a mentor in Aggie ACHIEVEmates as well as working in events for the Association of Former Students.
What is your Aggie story?
Oh, gosh. Probably going to cry a little bit. All right. So my Aggie story, growing up, I only had one Aggie in my family, but it was my granddad and he was always the person I looked up to most. It was kind of a battle all the time between “t-sips” and Aggies, but I knew in my heart that I was destined to be an Aggie. After being here, I know all along that that was true. My granddad, unfortunately, passed away three months before I got accepted to Texas A&M, but he was the most redass Aggie you’d ever meet. He lived his life so well and so engaged, so effortlessly, and he embodied everything that I wanted to be. So seeing his love for Texas A&M just inspired me to love this community and this university as much as he did. Now that I’m here, I’m just embracing it to the best of my abilities.
What is your campaign slogan?
My campaign slogan is “Think bigger and vote gigs for Greenwood.”
What is your platform?
There are four pillars to my campaign and they are involved, inclusivity, intentionality and integrity. These are just four terms that I feel have really described my experience as an Aggie thus far. So going into what I want to do as student body president just branches from those four terms. A lot of focus on making TAMU more EMS and disability friendly. A lot of reducing financial stress including reducing cost of textbooks, parking permits, things of that nature, digital resources, IDs, access to these resources. Then advocating for mental health days to be excused per semester, as well as limiting the number of days that tests can be administered. These are just a few things that I think overall just embody a need on this campus. So that is what we are basing our campaign off of and then there are branches from there.
What is your 30-second elevator pitch?
So stemming off of the four branches, intentionality, inclusivity, involvement and integrity, I truly believe that every Aggie on this campus is destined to be a great leader. We are all here for a reason, and so I would love to serve as an encourager to just push every Aggie to be the best that they can be, but also know that they can make a difference. You do not have to be in a position of power or even involved in a certain organizations to make a difference on this campus. There are so many ways to get plugged in and I think that I would just love to be a good example of that stepping into a campaign for a role like this.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I feel I’m qualified for this role because I have served in six organizations at Texas A&M and work in philanthropy off campus and also work in events on campus. In addition to that, I recently took on a new project and successfully saw it through. The ACHIEVE program here at Texas A&M is a program for students with intellectual disabilities, and they get to learn life skills and be fully emerged into the campus community here and they are just incredible. However, they are on a certificate program and so they do not actually qualify to order Aggie Rings. So a good friend and I did not see this fit, considering they are just as much of an Aggie as we are. We took it upon ourselves to design and create their own Aggie Ring and they got to order them for the first time on Jan. 27, and they will get their rings for the first time this semester. The history of the program was just completely altered and that is something that through that process, I learned the steps and the relationships and the communications necessary to really make an impact on a campus like Texas A&M.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
My hidden talent would probably be that I have the alphabet just oddly etched into my brain. I can say it backwards. I can say it backwards skipping letters, but that’s the number-letter correlation that’s like the cool part.
Cate Craddock, 2023-24 SBP candidate interview
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Cate Craddock.
Name, major and classification
Howdy, my name is Cate Craddock and I’m a junior marketing major from Tyler, Texas.
What organizations are you involved with?
I currently serve as the vice president of university committees in student government, and then I also am a member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter.
What is your Aggie story?
My Aggie story is I’ve always grown up a diehard Aggie, and I love A&M and the culture here. Specifically, if it was whether from going to prank my Longhorn neighbors, or when my cousin made me promise her when I was three that I would go to A&M, I’ve always wanted to be Aggie, and I’ve always wanted to be a part of the student section and be a student. When I came here, I was so excited to go to the football game, see the Yell Leaders, Miss Rev[eille], everything and really get to know the students and the student body. I have loved my experience here and I hope you remember and I always remember where I was when we beat the hell out of [Ala]bama.
What is your campaign slogan?
My campaign slogan is to “Choose Cate for student body president.”
What is your platform?
My platform is that it’s “Cate cares” and “running on experience.” I’m running on experience because I have served in the student government before. I’ve served under the past two student body presidents, whether being on top staff as a freshman, or serving now as vice president of university committees on [the] executive cabinet. I know what it looks like to be in the role and have seen it and shadowed it. I understand what [the] student body president does, and how they advocate for the student body. Then my platform is specifically for “Cate cares.” It’s “Cate cares” about community for every Aggie. “Cate cares” about rising student costs. “Cate cares” about Core Values and traditions, and “Cate cares” about mental wellness. In those points, each of those have specific action items that my team and I are heavily working on because we want every Aggie to feel like they belong and feel that they are the most important reason, because they are the 12th Man.
What is your 30-second elevator pitch?
My platform is “Cate cares” for community for every Aggie, “Cate cares” for mental wellness, “Cate cares” about rising student costs and “Cate cares” about traditions and Core Values. Those are our platforms and we’re excited for you to hear more about them.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I am qualified to run for student body president and lead this university because I’ve served under two student body presidents. I have had the honor and the privilege to serve within top staff my freshman year, and currently executive cabinet as a vice president of the university committees, I’ve been able to see what it looks like to lead a student body and lead a team. That’s why I understand and I’m excited to step into this role because I’ve had the experience. I do not have much of a learning curve and I love the students and they are my passion and they’re why I’m doing it.
What’s a hidden talent you have?
I would say a hidden talent of mine is either that I love to dance, so that’s kind of a talent I would say. Also, I love pickleball and that’s a hobby of mine.
Hudson Kraus, 2023-24 SBP candidate interview
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Hudson Kraus.
What is your name, major and classification?
Howdy, I’m Hudson Kraus. I’m a finance major from Dallas, Texas, and I’m a proud member of the Fightin’ Aggie Class of 2024.
What organizations are you involved with at A&M?
Currently, right now, I’m involved with the Texas A&M Interfraternity Council, which is a group of 18 chapters on campus and 1,800 men. I’m involved as the president of that organization, as well as involved in the Student Government Association, working on the mental health task force, appointed by our current Student Body President Case Harris.
What is your Aggie story?
My Aggie story is I grew up right down the road in south College Station, going to elementary school down in Pebble Creek, so I’ve made many trips back and forth with my family up to Aggieland and going to see the Corps [of Cadets] march into football games, throwing the football around with some of the players and just experiencing the culture and life that College Station has to offer. Both of my parents were Aggies. I knew from day one this is where I wanted to go to school and just from what I learned from growing up that this place and its Core Values and its unity that we all have as Aggies is what makes this place really special.
What is your campaign slogan?
My campaign slogan is “Howdy with Hudson.”
What is the full version of your platform?
For my platform, the three things that I really want to accomplish next year at Texas A&M are: first, to create opportunities for students; second, to cultivate the spirit here in Aggieland and third, connect the culture of all Aggies. There are multiple different points on each one of those, but some of the things we want to accomplish next year in terms of initiatives are free scantrons, virtual student IDs and sports passes, a program that we’re calling “academic rest days” to where you’re coming back from a long Thanksgiving or spring break, you wouldn’t be having exams on the Monday coming back. Additionally, some of the highlights we have are student organization spotlights, where we’re going to go out to different student organizations across campus that are making positive impacts, interview them and get to know them little better to create a short, 30-second video saying what they’re about, what they do for the community and then why someone should join that organization. That accomplishes multiple different things, connecting them with the Student Government Association to better understand their wants and needs, as well as getting their name out there and advocating for them on behalf of the Student Government Association. Additionally, we want to utilize our Texas A&M social media resources to advertise for our traditions and that’s what unites us all together as Aggies. Putting traditions announcements on the Canvas calendar, making sure students know when and where they are, so that they can go ahead and participate. Also working with our vice president of Student Affairs and making sure that we’re going to market our traditions across official Texas A&M social media channels.
What is your 30-second elevator pitch?
The three things we want to accomplish in the next year are: connect to culture, create opportunities for students and cultivate the spirit here in Aggieland. We want to make tangible and effective changes that positively impact the daily lives of students, such as creating virtual student IDs and sports passes for students, highlighting impactful student organizations and continuing to advocate for traditions enhancement and advocacy across the campus of Texas A&M.
Why are you qualified for this position?
I’m qualified for this position because currently as president of the Texas A&M Interfraternity Council, my position functions very similarly to student body president, in where I’m taking input from 1,800 students and 18 different interest groups and setting [a] vision for the next year and initiatives for us to plan out as Interfraternity Council, and then taking those up the ranks to administration and being a liaison essentially between the administration and Interfraternity Council. As student body president, I’d be a representative of all the students here at Texas A&M, between them and the administration, setting that same vision and advocating for them on behalf of the entire student body.
What is a hidden talent that you have?
I actually haven’t thought about that one. I’ve seen the interviews before, and I knew what it was going to ask, but I think a hidden talent that I have is photography. From a young age, I’ve been out there, aviation photography specifically, taking pictures at different airports around Texas and around the world. That’s one of the things I’m really interested in that people don’t necessarily know about me.
Christian Newton, 2023-24 SBP candidate interview
Editor’s Note: Below is a transcription of The Battalion’s interview with student body president candidate Christian Newton.
What is your name, major and classification?
Howdy, my name is Christian Newton. I’m a junior biomedical sciences major from Houston, Texas.
What organizations are you involved with at A&M?
My organizational involvement on campus so far has been all over the place. I currently have the opportunity to serve as the junior class president. I previously served as a member of the Student Senate within the Student Government Association. I also serve as the vice president of outreach for the new Student Council of Arts and Sciences. I’ve served as a Fish Camp counselor, as well as a member of the Howdy Crew, welcoming prospective students into the Aggie family. As a member of the [Memorial Student Center, or] MSC, through MSC Abbott, and just a lot of different areas across campus. It’s been a time for sure.
Can you tell us about your Aggie story?
I’m a first generation college student, and so I’ve only had about one member in my entire family who has been to college at all. My cousin went to t.u., then went to law school, did an amazing job there. And then that’s when I was like, “That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to copy and paste that same experience and go for it.” I had the burnt orange and white jerseys. I had a burnt orange and white hat with my name on it. My room was painted burnt orange and white. Then, I went to my first Texas A&M football game at the end of middle school with my best friend Addison, and I absolutely fell in love with this place, the spirit, the 12th Man. I didn’t know much about football. I knew that the ball goes in-between the uprights and that’s six points or so, but what really infatuated me was the Aggie Spirit and the people surrounding the field. I also had a tour scheduled for t.u in Austin, and our car broke down on the way, and I realized that it was not the school for me.
What is your campaign slogan?
My campaign slogan is to “Go All in with Newton” because I’m ready to go all in for you.
What is your full platform?
My platform is split up into three different parts. *The first part of my platform is “advancing student success.” That’s going to look like advocating for napping stations on campus, advocating for improving our sexual assault prevention on campus through different things like redistributing our blue light poles … as well as improving our Aggie registration system. The next part of my platform is called “elevating your Aggie experience,” that’s going to focus on improving our transportation, as well as providing free Lyft rides to students on campus. And the last part of my platform is called “lifting the community.” Through that, one of the initiatives I’m pretty passionate about is called “pass the mic,” giving the opportunity for student leaders and students across campus to be brought into some of those similar spaces that the student body president is brought into because I know there are others that are more educated than I am, as well as focusing on tradition education through a lot of creative methods like organizational outreach as well as working with Texas A&M Marketing Communications. The last part of that lifting the community aspect is to revamp and create a new org matching system so students can find their Aggie family on campus.
What is your 30-second elevator pitch?
Howdy, my name is Christian Newton. I’m a junior biomedical sciences major from Houston, Texas and I’m excited to share with you guys a little bit about my student body president campaign. My vision is simple. That’s to go all in for you. That’s to go all in for student government. All in for the student body. I want to all in for advancing student success, all in for enhancing and living your Aggie experience and all in for lifting the community. That’s going to look like things like bringing free rides, free Lyft and subsidized Lyft rides to our campus students, getting rid of our awful registration system, as well as bringing napping stations to campus.
Why are you qualified for this position?
When it comes to qualifications, I think I have been around the ring or so far at my time at Texas A&M. Serving as junior class president, I had the huge opportunity, as well as sophomore class president, to really dive into that community-building aspect at Texas A&M. Getting students all across campus involved in our traditions, as well as fundraising, handing our class social media and everything in between, it’s given me a huge opportunity to form that Aggie family. Another thing really comes from my experience being in the Student Government Association, as well as the Student Council of Arts and Sciences, just being able to advocate for student issues that students face every single day. So having a great relationship with administration and taking the concerns of students straight to them and trying to implement change throughout those organizations.
What is a hidden talent that you have?
As far as a hidden talent goes, I don’t know. The camera is set up a little weird, so I’m not going to do it here, but I like to say that I can do a pretty good worm. Some people say it’s just me throwing my shoulders against the ground, but I would consider it a worm.
