“Not many people know that graduate students can run for student body president,” Lee said. “That’s why it’s ‘student’ body president. I am a student.”

Lee graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Florida A&M University. From there, she took her experience to George Washington University in Washington, DC where she acquired a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Cancer Epidemiology. But she didn’t stop there. Lee is now at FAU for a PhD in neuroscience.

Lee is a founding member of the Graduate and Professional Student Association and has experience serving on various

“We’re often the step-children who don’t really get a lot of the attention and the needs,” said Lee refering. “It’s hard for an undergrad who’s maybe a sophomore or a junior to understand the needs of a graduate student.”

“Grad students have been to the undergrad level,” added Padron. “You’re able to understand what undergrad concerns are and what the grad concerns are.”
The pair have big plans if they enter into office beginning with creating an “instant analysis” polling system so SG officials can have a chance to better understand the students’ concerns.

“The concept is, as a student leader, you generally know what students want,” said Padron. “But you need to get as much feedback as possible to really understand what the students need.”

The pair plan to utilize social media and the FAU website to poll students about issues facing the student body before making major decisions.

“We use this to really tap into the students needs,” said Lee. “We need to bring the ‘student’ back in Student Government.”

Another goal the pair plans to achieve is to lobby in Tallahassee to oppose drastic changes in tuition costs. They plan to be involved in campaigns like the “Rally in Tally” campaign in which student leaders gather in Tallahassee to show support for increased funding for higher education.

“One of the ways to [lobby for student needs] is to have a big voice in Tallahassee,” said Lee. “I do feel like I will be going to Tallahassee lot.”

Lastly, the pair plan to improve the infrastructure of SG to make it more simple and and efficient for students.

“Sometimes you get bounced from office to office,” said Padron. “If you improve the cohesion between departments and offices, you can prevent the student from from feeling neglected.”

“Without the students, we don’t have our jobs,” he added.

Log on to my.fau.edu to vote on Tuesday Feb. 19 and Wednesday Feb. 20. Polls Open at 12:00 a.m. and close at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday Feb. 20.