Meet the Candidates: President

Max Alder 

Hi, I’m Max Alder. I’m studying finance and economics. I’m a junior, and I’m from Stansbury Park, Utah 

Can we get an elevator pitch of your campaign… 

Serving as the vice president, I’ve had the opportunity to work very closely with the president over the last school year, and I’ve learned all about the position. My campaign is built on keeping students informed about decisions coming from the Board of Higher Education and the state legislature, growing the Aggie family with the alumni association and building connections between students and university leadership. 

The USUSA president represents all of USU statewide. That is almost 30,000 Aggies. How will you represent and advocate for each of those individuals?  

As the executive vice president, I’ve had the opportunity to serve on the Statewide Executive Council with the president and work with our amazing statewide officers on every campus. Enabling them to do their great work is the best way to get in touch with students that I don’t see every day, but visiting the campuses is something I would like to make a priority. 

 If the USUSA president got to make their own Aggie Ice Cream flavor, what would you call it and what flavor would it be? 

 If I can make my own ice cream flavor, it has to be light blue, and here’s the name. Are you ready? “Cool as Ice,” and as the name suggests, this ice cream is fresh and minty. 

Kapp McCallister 

 Hi, my name’s Kapp McCallister, I am studying international ag-business, and my minor is in food science. I’m a junior, going to be a senior this coming fall, and I’m from Boise, Idaho. 

Tell us the elevator pitch of your campaign…  

 The elevator pitch for my campaign is that the campus is full of passion. I mean, every department, every major — we all have different desires and different interests, but we all have one purpose. It’s to learn, to grow and to experience USU, to have good times, so my personal focus as president will be the rights and life of the student that I’ll protect: our drive for education and our ability to learn in an environment that is conducive to it. So, as budget cuts or as other events, colleges coming together and departments changing, we can have that common goal and purpose of learning, growing and becoming better equipped for the world and life ahead.  

The USUSA president represents all of USU statewide. That is almost 30,000 Aggies. How will you represent and advocate for each of those individuals?  

 So, if you didn’t know, Utah State has about 30,000 students, and the campuses are statewide, so with that, there’s kind of a lot of responsibility falling upon those that connect the campuses. Me personally — I’m from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. That brings with it a wider range of campuses. Almost half of our students, or maybe even more than that, are from these satellite campuses. With that, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with them and to go explore their campuses, their backyards and their studies. Most of our research students and those involved in the applied sciences are in those areas. I think that as a president, you have to be familiar with them, and you have to be able to reach them where they are. That’s what I would bring to the table — is that I’m able to do that, that I’ve done it and that I enjoyed it. It’s really fun being able to reach out to them and get to know them better. 

 If the USUSA president got to make their own Aggie Ice Cream flavor, what would you call it, and what flavor would it be?  

 If the USUSA student president could make their own Aggie Ice Cream flavor, it’d be really hard for me to do anything other than Bull Tracks because that’s obviously the best, but I’d probably do something with chocolate peanut butter. Maybe I’d add caramel because caramel is also pretty good, so — Oh, you know what? I’ll take five alright, probably do like caramel pretzel chocolate and peanut butter because peanut butter is OG, so that’s probably the flavor I’d choose.

Carston Smith 

My name is Carston Smith. I am from here in Cache Valley in a little town called Paradise. I’m majoring in agribusiness and accounting, and I’m a senior.

 Tell us the elevator pitch of your campaign…   

  What would my elevator pitch for my campaign be? I’m standing on the foundation that Utah State has always stood on — of the small-town values, of the great programs of being hands-on. I’m trying to defend those as we expand Utah State University. I’m also standing on the platform of transparency, making sure that we are being diligent to wisely use the funding that we are allocated.  

 The USUSA president represents all of USU statewide, that is, almost 30,000 aggies. How will you represent and advocate for each of those 30,000 individuals?    

 I would advocate for the students across the state of Utah at Utah State University by making sure that everybody is included in a fair budget, that funds are allocated properly and that we’re standing on the values that make Utah State great. I love Utah State because of the hands-on atmosphere. I love it because of the connections that it provides. I want to make sure that students across the state have those opportunities as well.  

  If the USUSA president got to make their own Aggie Ice Cream flavor, what would you call it and what flavor would it be?   

  If the student body president could create one new Aggie Ice Cream flavor, I would choose Aggie Pride Pistachio. I’m a big pistachio ice cream guy, and I don’t feel like it gets enough love.