Candidate to run as part of first female duo

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Erin Droste/KANSAN

Stephanie Craig is running for vice president for the Delta Force Coalition. Craig, Edmond, Okla., junior, has been a junior-senior CLAS senator and a secretary for multicultural affairs. To hear Craig discuss her goals for the campaign, click here.

When Delta Force presidential candidate Elaine Jardon nominated Stephanie Craig for the vice presidential position, Craig didn’t exactly know what to think of it.

The Edmond, Okla. junior was already a junior-senior CLAS senator and a secretary for multicultural affairs, but she never considered herself to be a candidate for such an important position.

After a while, though, her excitement built up, and she started believing in herself.

“Elaine’s confidence in me really made me think that it’s something I should do,” Craig said. “Her wanting to work with me is such an honor.”

No Student Senate party has ever run with two female candidates, and the fact that Jardon thought enough of Craig to be the first to try meant a lot to her, Craig said.

Since accepting the nomination, Craig has been hard at work on the campaign trail. She left her job at Affinitas for the month of April and has spent most of her days on Wescoe Beach or chalking on campus.

She said most of her attention has been focused on winning the election, but the extra work hasn’t bothered her because she’s learned to balance her activities.

In addition to her job and Student Senate position, she is majoring in both economics and creative writing. She is also required to keep her grades up in order to keep a scholarship, which covers everything other than her books and utility bills.

Her parents bought her a car and pay for her insurance, but that is all she allows them to take care of. She said it would be unfair if she asked them to pay for anything else.

“I’m used to working hard,” she said. “Balancing academics, community involvement and having a part-time job is hard, but I’m used to it by now.”

When Craig graduates next spring, she wants to join the University’s creative writing department and then go to law school. She said she was still debating whether she wanted to be a lawyer or an author.

Even if her dreams come true, Craig understands she will never be recognized as the most famous graduate of her high school. She has already conceded that title to fellow Edmond Memorial High School graduate, and Kansas basketball coach, Bill Self.

“My high school calculus teacher used to talk about Bill Self all the time,” she said. “I knew who he was before I knew about KU.”

Self’s shadow is a difficult one to step out of, but if Delta Force ends up winning the Student Senate election, Jardon thinks Edmond Memorial High School should pay some homage to Craig.

“They can put up two Jayhawk plaques with little quotes underneath each of them,” Jardon said. “Bill Self on one side and Stephanie Craig on the other.”

Candidate makes comeback to University

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Erin Droste/KANSAN

Sara Garlick is running for vice president for the Student Voice coalition. She had trouble adjusting to college life when she came to the University of Kansas but has since learned to juggle KU College Republicans and the coalition. To hear Garlick talk about her goals for the campaign, click here.

Sarah Garlick has wanted to be a politician since she was 7-years-old. As the vice presidential candidate for the Student Voice coalition, Garlick is starting to realize that goal.

“This is kind of a first step to get a feel for it on a larger scale,” Garlick, Redbank, N.J., junior, said.

She toyed with the idea of getting involved with Student Senate as soon as she arrived at the University of Kansas but never thought the time was right.

Garlick made the decision to run after meeting Dennis Chanay, presidential candidate for the Student Voice coalition, at a KU College Republican meeting.

Chanay, Paola freshman, told her he was creating a new student political party, and because she liked his platform, she agreed to join the cause.

“I didn’t think I would run, but after I saw everything that should be fixed, I got interested,” Garlick said.

Garlick hesitated to run for Senate earlier in her college career because she was involved in a number of other activities. She had trouble adjusting to college, so she chose to give up all of the activities.

“I was being pulled every which way,” she said.

Garlick was involved in the rowing team and ROTC and joined the Sigma Kappa sorority. Garlick was expelled from the sorority and didn’t want to comment further on the issue. Sigma Kappa officials said the reasons for her expulsion were undisclosed.

Eventually she learned to pace herself and began trying to serve a greater cause through the Student Voice coalition.

“When you’re an 18-year-old college freshman or sophomore, it can be overwhelming,” Garlick’s mother Vikki Garlick said. “She’s come back well, and I’m very proud of her.”

Now Vikki said Garlick was more than capable of holding office. She said Garlick is outspoken, stands up for her beliefs and above all else, enjoys working for others.

Garlick has found time to squeeze in new extracurricular activities beyond Student Voice. She is a member of the KU College Republicans and is actively trying out for a KU mascot position.

“I’m a big Jayhawk fan and my friends think I’m real hyper,” Garlick said.

Once she graduates, the political science and international studies major plans to get her master’s degree.

Candidate continues family’s KU legacy

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Erin M. Droste

Marynell Jones is running for vice president for the KUnited Coalition. Jones, Dallas junior, is a fourth-generation Jayhawk. To hear Jones discuss her goals for the campaign, click here.

On the surface, it may look like Marynell Jones is running for student body vice president to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

Her mother, Mary Lou Reece, held office in 1976, and though duplicating her mother’s fate would mean a lot to Jones, that’s not what drives her.

She genuinely likes the student government process and wants to sacrifice her time to make campus life better for other students, Jones said.

“We’ve always placed a high regard on public service and doing things for the good of the whole,” Jones’ mother Reece said. “That’s just rubbed off on her over time.”

During the last two years, Jones has been the freshman-sophomore CLAS student senator. This year she is a student representative for the University Council and serves on the Senate Executive Board.

“Student Senate is my life,” she said.

The Dallas junior got involved with KUnited and Student Senate during her freshman year when former president Andy Knopp asked her to run. She said she liked the group because it represented the same goals she wanted to achieve.

“It was hard to make KU feel like a home coming from Texas,” Jones said. “Once I got involved with the Senate stuff it started feeling more like a home.”

Her mother’s influence may not be the main reason Jones is involved with Senate, but following her family members’ leads is nothing new to her.

Jones was named after her grandmother; her brother Arthur is a student senator; and she wants to work for her mother’s construction company when she graduates.

As a fourth-generation Jayhawk, her decision to come to the University was never in question.

“This University has been a big part of my family since I was a little kid,” Jones said. “We were all united around KU.”

You can also see evidence of her family’s history spread across campus. A picture in the KU Visitor Center commemorates her great grandmother, who graduated in the first class of nursing students.

At Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union, there is a brown bag signed by Reece on display. It was the first brown bag lunch ever handed out at the University.

Even the family’s vacations have been scheduled around Kansas events. In 1997 Reece’s grandmother flew 24 members of the family to Hawaii so they could watch the men’s basketball team play in the Rainbow Classic.

Whether KUnited wins the election, Jones will continue to try to make her own mark at the University.

“This University is a really important place, and important things go on here,” Jones said. “I just want to encourage people to get involved.”