Lily Akagbosu, a fourth-year psychology student, is running as a presidential candidate in this year’s Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) elections as a part of the Students First slate.
She said her involvement in CUSA since her first year at Carleton has helped prepare her for the role of president. Currently, she is the CUSA vice-president (student issues).
Previously, she was a CUSA councillor for the faculty of arts and social sciences. She’s also worked as an administrative and programming coordinator in CUSA’s International Students’ Centre for two years.
“I realized I’ve served in all the different positions in CUSA,” she said.
Akagbosu has also been a club executive for Carleton’s Nigerian Students’ Association after arriving to Canada as an international student.
“Having that insight—knowing what it feels like to be not just a Carleton student, but one that’s engaged—I felt I owed that experience to students,” she added.
Akagbosu said her campaign platform includes creating more student jobs through executive portfolios, making parking accessible, improving student feedback, getting rid of outdated fees, and improving experiential learning.
Akagbosu also said she feels she is the right candidate because “leadership is service.”
“Leadership is like being a pilot. You take others to greater heights, but first you make sure you’re well-grounded. You make quick decisions, but you take calculated risks. You depend on your team—and they depend on you,” she said. “Sometimes you’re not seen as often, but your actions are always felt.”
Last year, Akagbosu ran as part of the One Carleton slate, but this year she created her own slate—Students First.
According to her, the process of creating the slate was “very organic.”
“I believe in the law of attraction—when you need something or when something needs to happen—like minds just draw close,” she said.
“I think every brand has a unique message, and people interpret it differently,” she added. “To me, One Carleton was about unity—there’s so much division on our campus sometimes. Yes, we recognize that we’re different but we’re also one.”
“The next step is recognizing how we can put ourselves first, because sometimes administration might make decisions, governments might make decisions, professors might make decisions, but are they acting in the best interest of students? Since we’ve recognized we’re one, now we have the momentum to put ourselves in the forefront of things.”
“My mindset is to create work that is bigger than myself in a way that it reaches as many students as possible,” she said.
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Photo from files
