EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a three-part series showcasing the Student Government presidential and vice-presidential candidates. The stories will be run in alphabetical order, according to the last name of the presidential candidate.
Helen Frink is not in the minority among fellow Student Government leaders who believe SG can do anything, even if it’s off campus, but she is aiming to spread this sentiment throughout campus.
With her running mate Wesley Davis, she will try to spread SG’s potential power to land her the presidential seat.
Frink and Davis put students in their “Hot Seat” in their pre-campaign dubbed “Listen,” and now, the pair will take feedback to jump start their SG campaign, “Make It Matter.”
Frink thought she would only be a SG senator during her time at the University, but after attending a Campus Life “Geaux Lead” retreat, Frink wanted to change how little students knew about SG.
Frink started her junior year with her eyes on the presidential prize.
The day before the fall 2014 semester began, Frink, who has been a senator since her freshman year, made the decision to run for SG president.
“Being in senate for so long, as well as having friends in exec and hearing about how those things go, I know how things run,” Frink said. “And I know what specifically needs to be fixed, and I know that a lot of it is just getting people to work hard.”
It wasn’t until October that she reached out to Davis, who had only begun to consider a senate seat.
Frink said she was specific in who she was looking for, and Davis was the ideal running mate. He had served different leadership roles on campus from a UCFY senator to being an orientation leader in the summer.
“I really didn’t see myself doing it,” Davis said. “That changed.”
Frink and Davis began their pre-campaign in the beginning of the semester when they took to Free Speech Plaza to find out what students knew about SG.
The turnout was better than expected and helped the team gauge what students thought and helped shape their campaign.
“It was more successful than I ever thought it would be,” Davis said. “Even if one student showed up, which much more did, that would have made me feel good because that’s one more student who knows about student government.”
Although they viewed the pre-campaign successful in turnout, knowledge about SG was not as plentiful.
The Hot Seat confirmed what Frink noticed at “Geaux Lead” — students do not know what SG is capable of doing.
“The majority of the answers we got from students — and we asked a lot — ‘What do you know about student government?’ The answer was either ‘Nothing’ or ‘Scantrons,’” Davis said.
Coming from different leadership areas on campus, the team thought they could address what needed to be changed. But between student concerns in the Hot Seat and student organization visits, more ideas came to light.
When Frink and Davis title their initiatives, they will be posted on the campaign’s website.
But Frink said they have begun to address other members of SG about student concerns, like directions of bus routes. The team met with the SG director of transportation to discuss changing the direction of some Burbank-Ben Hur routes. Their goal is to have the buses travelling in opposite directions.
In the Hot Seat, the team learned that the Muslim Student Association has a prayer room in a building on campus that gets locked at 4:30 p.m. during the week and all weekend, which conflicts with prayer times for the group. Davis said this is an issue they plan to address and would not have known about if not for their pre-campaign.
“It’s not that I want to change how student government works. It’s just the outreach. Right now, student government is an incredible organization,” Frink said. “Once they [students] realize that we have this power, this capability and this budget, they will be able to come to us and say, ‘Hey, I want this.’”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Emily Brauner

LSU international trade junior Wesley Davis (left) and political communications junior Helen Frink (right) run for student government under the Make it Matter ticket for the 2015 fall semester.