Xiaorong (Sherry) Shan, Candidate for Vice President of Fairfax Campus

Graduate Degree Program: Doctoral student, Civil Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing (full-time student)

Expected Date of Graduation: May 2025

Campus of Academic Department: Fairfax & Mason Square (Arlington)

Campus(es) of Classes, Work, and/or Residence: Fairfax & Mason Square (Arlington)

Biography and Candidate Statement

Hello everyone. Here I am, excited to announce my candidacy for the position of VP of Fairfax in GAPSA for the academic year 2023 – 2024. As a passionate and dedicated student, I believe that I have the experience, vision, and leadership qualities necessary to serve as a representative of our student body. I worked as the VP of Fairfax for GAPSA during the academic year 2022 – 2023, where I made significant contributions to the student body, which include the following:

Communicated with the Transportation Committee of Mason and successfully negotiated to add more shuttles that pass by Fairfax corner after 10 pm to ensure that students can go home after classes.
Collaborated with OIPS and presented GAPSA during the iWeek Parade Festival, and tried to add graduate student sessions for the International Buddy Program.
Served as a committee member for programming for the MAGIC conference and helped review and rank applications from students.

During this time, I gained a deep understanding of the issues and concerns that are important to our graduate student community. As the VP of Fairfax for GAPSA in the upcoming year, I will work tirelessly to address these issues and advocate for the interests of all students. My proposed plans include:

Continuation of working with the Transportation Committee of Mason to address shuttle issues between Fairfax, Mason Square, and SciTech campuses.
Collaboration with other student associations, such as CAPS, to care for the mental health of graduate students.
Addressing more concerns from graduate students to the school, such as housing issues, scholarship resources, tuition, and stipend.

I am excited for the opportunity to serve as your representative and to work with all of you to make our school a better place. I ask for your support in the upcoming election, and I look forward to meeting with you to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to earn your vote.

Availability and Commitment to the Time and Expectations of the Position

Yes, I could definitely meet you in person. I arrange well with my work on campus, so I don’t think my academic work will make conflicts to GAPSA