The Student Bar Association at UF Law is proud to announce the incoming class representatives below. This page highlights each representative and provides s a small statement as to why they have sought the position.
3L Representatives
Preston Jones
Hello! My name is Preston Jones and I am running to be one of your 3L class representatives. I am currently a 2L class representative and serve as the Judicial Council chair and on the Rules & Bylaws committee. In these positions I have been able to help SBA takes steps forward to better setting out its rules and processes so that it can better serve us, the student body. This next year, I hope to continue serving you as your 3L class representative. I plan to use my detailed understanding of main campus’s and UF Law’s byzantine bureaucracy to build on Adam’s success with faculty engagement on the ad-hoc grading committee. Ensuring that we the student body have the opportunity to provide input on decisions before they’re made, not after, is my number one goal. Please feel free to email me at prestonjones@ufl.edu with any questions you may have for me, at any time.
Emily Greentree
My name is Emily Greentree and I would like to continue to serve the class of 2021 as a SBA Representative. I have enjoyed working with the SBA especially as a member of the allocations committee to help students get the funding they need to put on so many great events. I ask that you continue to let me serve as your representative and I promise to do my best to advocate for the concerns of the class of 2021.
Jordan Vann
My name is Jordan Douglas Vann. I am a spring transfer student from Florida Coastal. I would like to run for Student Bar Association Representative. I served in the SBA my entire time at Florida Coastal. My first year, I was a representative and chair of the Rules and Budget Committee. My second year, I was elected as Vice President of the Executive Board. In these two roles, I worked with Student Organizations and the Administration to better help the students. I enjoy working with others to accomplish the goals of everyone. If elected, I will work tirelessly to make sure all of us get the most out of our time here at UF Law. I would greatly appreciate your support.
2L Representatives
Jonathan Graham
My name is Jonathan Graham, and I am running to represent our class on the Student Bar Association during our 2L year. As a current representative on the Rules & Bylaws committee, I have spent the last year sharpening SBA’s tools to serve you. I hope to spend the next year increasing SBA’s transparency and improving mental health and job search resources. Last year, I worked with our communications chair to increase the information SBA shares. Next year, I hope to refine that process and improve SBA’s communication resources and policies. My goal is to make every policy that we consider and every decision we make available for you to see. Last year, I joined Sama Kaseer to lead the initiative to introduce phone chargers into library circulation. We also worked to enhance information resources. Next year, I hope to work on improving both mental health and job search resources. Law school is already stressful. Our current situation has only worsened the uncertainty of employment and the attendant anxiety. My goal is to work with the administration to continue improving the school’s resources for mental health and wellness at school, and for the job search afterward.
Sam Kaseer
Hello all! I am Sama Kaseer, your 1L section 2 representative. I hope that you are all safe and healthy in these uncertain times. I am seeking reelection and wish to continue to be your representative for the upcoming school year. I joined SBA because I wanted to become the link between administration and the student body. My goal was to become an accessible, unbiased resource for those that have specific concerns or ideas in mind. That goal still remains as my top priority. In response to your comments throughout the year, I worked with Jonathan Graham on several ideas proposed by you all that include the Student Organization Event Calendar, Transparency, and Phone Charger proposals. I also helped draft the UF Law grading policy memorandum with your fellow 1L representatives. I hope that those of you who contacted me personally voicing your concerns have seen these concerns reflected in the memorandum, and as for the others that wanted to remain anonymous or had personal comments after the publication the memorandum, be sure that I forwarded these comments to the student body president. It has been a privilege working for you to make our school better. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on social media and in person and for trusting me to carry out your needs. I hope to continue to be your representative and confidant.
Thomas Gilhooly
I’d like to earn your support in becoming one of your SBA Class Representatives. At UF, as an undergraduate, and now particularly as a law student, I’ve had the privilege of meeting incredible people from countless backgrounds. I want the honor of representing this group of students to ensure that we all have access to the academic, professional, and mental health resources that will allow us to achieve our greatest goals. My experience in student government, and the five years I’ve spent at UF have provided me with the proficiencies necessary to do that. My hope for UF Law is that it can be a school where every student’s voice is heard. We have incredible classmates with diverse viewpoints that can help SBA implement ideas that, otherwise, would not be considered. I have seen firsthand that some of SBA’s best ideas come straight from students who are not involved. My goal as an SBA representative would be to crowdsource ideas that could improve student life and to do so anonymously to encourage the sharing of diverse viewpoints. Students would get an opportunity to anonymously voice their support, or lack of support for a particular idea. Our SBA must strive to work as democratically as possible, ensuring that the students can shape their own future, and in the process, the future of the Levin College of Law.
Mark Gnatowski
My name is Mark Gnatowski, and I have had the privilege of representing Section 1 of our 1L class during this academic year. In that time, I have served on the Events and Communications Committees. I hope to return to the SBA to further two main goals: (1) improving SBA’s communications with the student body by proposing that the Secretary serves in an official capacity on the Communications Committee, and (2) creating a marketing campaign highlighting our student resources, meeting minutes, and meetings to increase transparency. It would be an honor to continue serving our class. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or concerns you have via my email (mark.gnatowski@ufl.edu).
Pranav Patel
What distinguishes the UF Law Student Bar Association is its diverse membership and relentless dedication to ensuring that, among others, students’ voices and concerns are addressed, student organizations receive funding and resources to continue their great work, and the college’s faculty and leadership are both accessible to students and informed on the student body. It has been my privilege to serve this year as an elected 1L Student Class Representative for the UF Law Student Bar Association, and if re-elected, I intend on continuing to work tirelessly on advancing this school’s resources, opportunities, and inclusiveness. As part of my role this past year, I was on both the Allocations and Faculty-Student Committees. For the Allocations Committee, I took part in bimonthly hearings during which we ruled on various funding requests from the college’s many student organizations. This required careful consideration of needs, budgeting, and student organizations’ representation of UF Law at large. Additionally, as part of the Faculty-Student Committee, I was involved in appointing students to participate as voting members on select faculty committees. From these experiences along with my active participation in bimonthly General Board Meetings and various Town Halls, I have acquired a foundational knowledge of the workings and capacity of the UF Law Student Bar Association that is advantageous for all 2L and 3L Student Class Representatives to continue growing their involvement in the organization. In the coming year, it is my hope to assume greater responsibilities in both of my committees while also looking to spearhead communications as Communications Officer for the organization at large. It would be my great honor to take these next steps with your support. About Me: Outside of my involvement in the UF Law Student Bar Association, I am the President Elect of the Intellectual Property & Technology Law Association and a member of the Health Care Law Society. As a non-traditional student, I come from an extensive science background, which includes Biomedical Engineering, Biological Sciences, and Public Health. I have keen interests in Intellectual Property and Space Law. I am also currently a research assistant and will be interning at NASA’s Office of Chief Counsel this summer. As a fun fact, outside of school, I am a professional dancer and choreographer and own my own company (IG @afrod3si) fusing African and Indian elements of music and dance into a unique genre. From 2016-2019, I also served as Director of a large non-profit organization based out of Boston, South Asian Nation, that promotes cultural awareness at the local and national levels through numerous regional, multi-state, and international events throughout the year.
Nicholas Jeffrey
As an SBA representative this past year I have worked to increase the quality of life at our school by expanding the mental health and academic resources available to students. My foremost goal is to foster a genuine and supportive environment in the school, which often does not arise easily due to the competitive environment of law school. However, by expanding academic and mental health resources and creating accessible programs for community engagement, we can still create the open and supportive environment in which education and personal development flourish. To accomplish this, we can make improvements to the first-year orientation, create an outline bank for all students, create meditation spaces, and improve our daily food options. These would be key projects on my agenda next year. As an SBA member this past year, I focused on affecting a culture of wellness on campus by advocating for mental health resources and creating new events for students. I helped coordinate the mental wellness fair we had in March, and I am constantly looking for ways to create mindful spaces for students. That is why I created the SBA Story Walks (which happen every Tuesday at noon over Zoom now). The Story Walks are designed to allow for a space of relaxation and decompression through literature within the confines of a demanding academic schedule. Near the beginning of this Spring semester, I took up a new role in SBA as the events chair. Working in this role, I have begun to implement regular programs designed to enrich the social atmosphere of the school and the well-being of students (such as the Story Walks). Beyond those, I have several programs I plan to bring to life next year, including an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, a Spirit Week leading up to Barrister Ball, and an exciting guest for a Keynote Speaker event. My goal as SBA social chair was to create spaces and events at the school that allow students to feel at home. I want to bring familiarity and community to our school, because that is where meaningful connections are made, where ideas are formed, and where personal growth happens. That mission has only begun, as my time in the role was short.
Keani Knight
As an SBA representative for the class of 2022, I hope to be a listening ear for my peers and to facilitate open dialogue between the students and the administration at UF Law. As a 1L representative, I, along with my fellow representatives, worked to have the needs and concerns of my section/classmates heard by those who could effectively solve issues. If I am elected to be a 2L representative, I will continue these efforts in order to ensure that my peers are heard and seen. The students at UF Law have valid interests and opinions and it is imperative that their representatives work with them to make sure that they are taken seriously. From social initiatives to grading policy concerns, I have strived to be a helpful and knowledgeable representative and I hope to serve my classmates effectively for the upcoming school year. I also currently serve as the SBA Diversity Chair. In this capacity, I look forward to merging my responsibilities as a 2L representative with my Diversity Chair position and making sure the voices of my underrepresented classmates are also heard and considered. I believe that this upcoming year will be an amazing opportunity to represent the 2L class and I cannot wait to see how the class of 2022 makes its impact.
Kassandra Kilanowski
Hello, everyone! My name is Kassie Kilanowski and I am a current 1L. It would be an honor to continue to serve the class of 2022 as a Student Bar Association representative this upcoming academic year. If elected to serve as one of your representatives, I will aim to further the initiative of the Student Bar Association by being readily available to take your ideas, concerns, and feedback into consideration. With the abundance of varying viewpoints and opinions within the student body, it is essential that all constituents feel as though they have the opportunity to contribute to both social and academic aspects of student life while attending UF Law. Throughout my first year here at the Levin College of Law, I served as a 1L class representative for SBA and learned so much about the organization. One of the main objectives of SBA that truly resonates with me is the promotion of collaboration between law students as well as meaningful interactions between students and faculty members. If elected, I will continue to emphasize the importance of this ongoing communication. I will ensure that different opinions are voiced so that collectively, the student body can discover solutions that are beneficial to all. For success as a legal community, I believe that something as simple as taking different perspectives into consideration and fostering positive relationships will greatly strengthen the SBA’s ability to provide and allocate resources to student organizations and to humbly serve our peers. As a member of the Faculty-Student committee this past year, we worked toward facilitating integration between law students and faculty members. As students, our academic experiences are often shaped by the pivotal role our professors have in our professional and scholastic growth. This past year, the Faculty-Student Committee members attended meetings that allowed us to become involved in the decision-making process for faculty-based initiatives. If elected, I would like to work toward broadening this process to allow for other students to become informed of these decisions in a timely fashion. We are all a part of the UF Law community and it is imperative that we all have the option to be fully informed, as a cohesive unit, of information that directly or indirectly impacts us. If elected to serve as a class representative, I will continue to promote an environment that welcomes diversity and inclusivity. Additionally, I will push for the expression of ideas so we can all work together to achieve common goals that will collectively serve the UF Law student body. Thank you for your support!
