Spring 2020 E-Board Candidate Bios

Frankie Berardi

The Student Bar Association is designed to be a coalition of student leaders and advocates who galvanize campus engagement, promote personal wellness, and inspire student development. As Chairperson of the Mental Wellness Committee, I led exhaustive reform in mental health resources and instituted initiatives to address student stress and depression. As Chairperson of the Diversity Committee, I emphasized the importance of championing intersectional identities through on-campus programs, improving diverse campus representation through external engagement efforts, and empowering students through on-going collaboration. As SBA Vice President, I continue to promote social equity on campus through multi-faceted engagement plans, and I continue to fight campus sexual violence through new trainings and policy discussions. As SBA President, I will continue these broad-sweeping efforts, further engage UF’s main campus, and ensure that every student voice is heard.

Nailah Bowen

My name is Nailah Bowen and I would love to serve the student body as Vice President. I have served in the SBA since my first year of law school and continued to serve as Treasurer during my 2L year. As Treasurer and Chair of the Allocations Committee, I have experience serving on the executive board and working with administration. But most importantly, I have experience working with student organizations which are an instrumental part of our experience as law students at UF. I hope to continue to support the goals of student organizations and to build on the relationships that I have developed to serve the student body as SBA Vice President. 

Paige Cham

I started my work at SBA from the first semester of my 1L year as the section representative. I am currently serving on the E-board as Secretary and am excited to continue serving my fellow student as the Vice President next year. My mission has been and continues to be enhancement of students’ experiment while here at UF. I am always available to speak with you regarding problems we face as students. I am holding an Election Talk on Monday 24th, 180 HH, at noon. Stop by, get to know me and grab a bite to eat.

Jonathan Graham

I am running for SBA Vice President because I want to continue to serve the student body. I want SBA to work with the administration on issues that affect us all — the availability of funding for both summer internships and the increased cost-of-living throughout the year. I also want to continue to improve SBA’s transparency and responsiveness to student needs, so that we can better represent the whole of the student body. Your support can make that happen.

Hope McKnight

I would like to run for the Executive Board Office of Secretary because I would enjoy making sure all members of the SBA are kept up to date with the information they need. I enjoy organizing and planning and believe these interests would make me a good candidate for this position. The SBA is a wonderful organization and would love to have the opportunity to have a greater part in it.

Michael Cairo

I want to serve as your SBA Treasurer because I want to make sure that you’re getting the maximum possible benefits and opportunities from your money. Each of us, as UF Law students taking a full schedule, pay $609.92 per year in Activity & Service fees that are managed by Student Government (SG) on main campus. As a member of the SBA Allocations Committee for two semesters and a former Student Body President, I’ve seen how often students and student organizations get caught up with the administrative processes when requesting funding from SG and SBA, and I want to help streamline these processes and increase accessibility so that we can get a fair and proportional amount of those funds. I hope to bring my practical working knowledge and experience to this role to help you and your organization make the most out of your money. If elected, my priorities will be to (1) clarify SBA’s allocations process by writing financial bylaws; (2) create a law-school-specific pathway for you and your organization to more easily obtain SG funding; and (3) secure a proportional allocation for SBA and law school student organizations from main campus SG.

Nicholas Jeffrey

I want to manage the collection and disbursement of SBA funds as Treasurer so that I can provide the greatest possible amount of opportunity for each student who wishes to create something meaningful with those funds. Transparency, accessibility, and efficiency are key attributes that I have developed as a Section Representative and Events Committee Chair, and now I want to bring them to the office of Treasurer. Many student organizations, events, and activities on our campus are sponsored by SBA and depend on SBA funds for life, which makes the Treasurer’s office a key facet in the invigoration of our campus. I want to be your fiscal fellow, your friendly neighborhood Treasurer, so that I can take charge of bringing that life to our campus.

Jessie Schuster

At the end of last semester, I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to step into the role of SBA Parliamentarian to finish out this year. Through working with the Rules & Bylaws committee, already this year, we have successfully passed a baseline of SBA Bylaws. I’m thrilled to be given the chance to move forward into next year, further working with the committee to present new sections of the Bylaws to the SBA, while continuing to take suggestions on what should be included. Additionally, in my role as Parliamentarian, I am delighted to have the ability to continue working with the executive board of SBA.