“If I see something, I want to have the ability to change it,” junior Cody Heaton said in an interview last week. “I always see things around campus that frustrate me, or I think should be different, and UPUA gave me the ability to act on those things that I wanted to be changed.”

Heaton is the only candidate running to be the next student body president at Penn State, the leader of the University Park Undergraduate Association’s 13th Assembly. He served as UPUA’s facilities chair this year and prior to that acted as director of facilities. Sophomore Laura McKinney, who served this year as the Bellisario College of Communications representative, will run alongside Heaton for vice president.

Heaton (from New Jersey) and McKinney (from Florida) are both out-of-state students, but they knew after touring at Penn State that they couldn’t go anywhere else. Together they’ve served on nearly every committee within UPUA, so Heaton said he and McKinney complement each other in that sense.

McKinney chaired the roundtable for this year’s Mental Health and Wellness Week, which she says has been one of her favorite and most impactful experiences in UPUA so far. Heaton spent much of his last two years working on initiatives related to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Enhancement, leading his committee to accomplish several projects like adding benches at CATA Bus stops and creating a call-ahead meal service for the dining halls.

“There’s still so much more to do,” Heaton said. “It’s on our platform, but it was really cool to work with all the different entities related to that initiative throughout the year.”

The ticket’s platform is divided into three pillars: a community-oriented Penn State, attainable, accessible, and affordable services, and preparing for future Staters. “Community-oriented Penn State” focuses mostly on outreach initiatives, including regular forums/panels with UPUA, ADA accessibility, and increased awareness of student poverty. “Attainable, accessible, and affordable services” seeks to accomplish longer-term goals of decreasing textbook costs and eliminating paid homework services like the Pearson Labs. Finally, “preparing for future Staters” includes advocating for more state appropriations and student representation on the Board of Trustees, making water more accessible at large events, and assisting with implementing borough presence at New Student Orientation (NSO).

Heaton and McKinney’s greatest weakness in this election cycle is their lack of experience with Penn State’s Board of Trustees, for which they’ll each sit on a committee. They’ve each attended a public meeting this year, but haven’t been involved much beyond that. Even so, Heaton equates working with the Board to working with administrators, and says he has the experience to build those relationships and is ready to jump right into the role.

The last time only one executive ticket ran for these positions was before UPUA’s 8th Assembly, when Katelyn Mullen chose Brendan Dooley as her running mate. However, Heaton emphasized the pair is still treating the campaign cycle as if the ticket was contested in meeting with campus organizations and seeking official endorsement from supporters.

Notably, the ticket chose to endorse only 15 at-large representative candidates out of the 20 open seats in the Assembly.

“We want people who want it the most,” Heaton said. “It was our thought that, if we leave it open, that’s what’s probably going to happen.”

Assuming he is elected, Heaton hopes to implement his “Eatin’ with Heaton” initiative first — in his “first 100 days,” if you will. This will be a regular sort of roundtable discussion over lunch in the HUB, to talk to people right off the bat and start out strong.

“That’s why I do this — it’s for the people,” Heaton said. “I really enjoy interacting with people.”

The polls open at 6 a.m Wednesday, March 28, and results will be announced that evening. You can read more about this year’s at-large representative candidates here and academic representative candidates here.