HCC Student Government Association tickets: Emilee Skidgel and Katherine Cole

Emilee Skidgel and Katherine Cole, Holy Cross Student Government Association (SGA) presidential and vice-presidential candidates respectively, are passionate about building community.

Hailing from southern California, Skidgel is a junior business major and sports management minor. She is currently a resident assistant for James Hall and a junior class senator. Skidgel also works for Notre Dame Football as a recruiting ambassador and Fighting Irish Media as a statistic reporter.

Cole, originally from Portland, Oregon, is a junior biology major with minors in sports management and public health. She is also an RA for James Hall. She is involved with campus ministry and a campus women’s group at Holy Cross. In addition, she is a Notre Dame hockey manager and works for Notre Dame Sports Nutrition.

Skidgel and Cole's platform of “Community-Vision-Collaboration” highlights the small campus family aspect of Holy Cross.

In the past, Holy Cross student body presidential candidates have focused on bridging the gap between the tri-campus community. Skidgel said the community portion of their campaign platform focuses on plausible ideas that can improve the Holy Cross community first.

“A plus with COVID is that we saw a sense of a stronger community this semester,” Skidgel said. “We want to just be able to build a really strong community here at Holy Cross, that way we can, in the future, build a strong community and have the ability to build a really strong community with the tri-campus.”

The second pillar of their platform —Vision — focuses on Skidgel and Cole’s plan for the future. Skidgel said this pillar is about making practical plans to ensure that whatever they promise, they can fulfill. Although their vision for the next year is focused inward, Skidgel said she hopes it can grow bigger in years to come.

Collaboration, the final pillar of their campaign platform, is about Skidgel and Cole’s plan to integrate themselves within the Holy Cross community and be accessible.

Skidgel said she hopes to not only help students be more connected to student government, but also to be a bridge between students and faculty.

“Since we're kind of the middleman between students and faculty, we're able to relay what the students want to faculty and work together with them,” Skidgel said. “We want to make the student body feel like they're involved and that their voice is heard, and it matters.”

Skidgel said their first priority if they got elected would be to bring together the different groups on campus, especially gateway students and commuters. Cole also mentioned that one of her priorities would be to make Holy Cross’s welcome weekend as inclusive as possible.

Cole said their campaign slogan “Be the Change” encapsulates their main ideas of creating a community that can work together to solve problems.

“You can be the change; you can be the difference. You can be the one that separates yourself,” Cole said. “We want to be that change towards good, and we want to keep pushing ourselves and keep pushing the campus.”

Skidgel said overall, she is grateful for the support they’ve received and is excited for the future whether they are elected or not.

“We just appreciate everyone's support that we've had already, just with the campaign alone," Skidgel said. "We've already met so many more people, and we're able to express what we're about. Even without those roles, at the end of the day, we just want to make Holy Cross a better place.”