Lockwood, Agosto focus on reaching out to students

Taylor Lockwood, a junior majoring in political science, says he cares about your dreams.

Thats why he, with his running mate Ben Agosto, are running for the positions of student body president and vice president, Lockwood said.

Lockwood said he is reaching out to students to see what they want to be changed at the university.

Agosto, a junior majoring in finance and economics, said he started getting feedback from students during the fall semester as a Street Team leader during the Week of Welcome.

I dont want to just be someone sitting in the SG office, Agosto said. I dont want to forget why I was elected. I want to be elected so that I can go back on the streets frequently and ask the students what do you want? What should we change? How do you like everything so far?

Lockwood and Agosto are running on a platform they call RED.

This, they said, is based on rights, experience and dollars, and carries the slogan your dreams, our goals.

We want to hear what the students want, Lockwood said.

Both candidates have experience working with SG.

In addition to being the Chief of Staff for SG, Lockwood has been involved with the Student Green Energy Fund, the Local Fee Committee and other campus organizations. Agosto is a current SG senator for the College of Business.

Agosto, who moved to Tampa from Houston for college, also served as vice president of his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and as a member on the Board of Alumni Association that he said has helped him with administrative skills that would benefit his role as the vice president.

With all the experience Ive gathered, I could do my job successfully, Agosto said.

Lockwood also said where students money goes is a priority of the campaign.

Lockwood said he has a particular interest in halting the rise in tuition that occurs every year. He said he and Agosto plan to look further into it to see what is causing the rising costs and what they can do to avoid it continuing in the future.

Both Lockwood and Agosto said they believe they need to reach out to all of the students, not just a portion.

I just want to encourage everyone to vote, Agosto said. Voter turnout tells me that the students paying attention to whats going on, want to have a part in it. If I see the voter turnout go up this year, win or lose, Ill be happy knowing that whoever wins will have some sort of power to actually make a change because the students are paying attention.