Alex Cornillie
Student Body presidential candidate Alex Cornillie said he realized about two years ago that Student Government is broken.
He was press secretary for former Student Body President Ashton Charles at that time, and a lack of communication with an SG agency director's voting project led to Cornillie taking it on himself.
"It's not one person's fault," he said. "It's a very broken system."
Cornillie, a 21-year-old economics senior, is hoping to fix this as the Students Party presidential candidate.
He said he wants to make SG positions merit-based, and he hopes to downsize SG, especially the cabinet.
He first worked with SG during his sophomore year, when he was on the Reitz Union Board of Managers. He became spokesman for the Renew Your Reitz campaign.
Parts of the campaign got distorted, he said. He said it went from focusing on building structure to a new, grander union.
Charles saw him at a Renew Your Reitz presentation and asked him to be her press secretary.
Although she was a member of the Unite Party, Cornillie wasn't concerned because he never sided with any party.
He said his No. 1 goal if he gets elected is to see students get involved in SG.
"When ideas come from a handful of people, you get a handful of ideas," he said.
He opposes tuition increases. He also said he wants to cut down on what he sees as wasteful spending in SG.
Cornillie has also been a Cicerone since his freshman year. He is an inactive brother of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Brooklyn Cravens, a 22-year-old advertising senior, has known Cornillie since high school.
He said when Cornillie has a vision, he gets it done.
"He's just a really awesome guy," he said.
Jesse Schmitt
Every semester, the zombie apocalypse comes upon UF, thanks to Jesse Schmitt.
The 20-year-old political science and economics junior is not only the founder of Gators Humans vs. Zombies. He's also the Students Party Student Body vice presidential candidate.
Schmitt has since moved on to tackling opponents on the football field.
Schmitt walked on to the UF football team in Spring 2011 and plays fullback for the practice team.
His main goal is to change students' views of Student Government.
He has never held an SG position, but he has previously run for Senate seats.
Schmitt will be a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps when he graduates. He trains as part of the Platoon Leaders Course in the summer.
He also runs a charity called the Backpack Club of Gainesville.
Each month he fills about 60 backpacks with food and sends them out to elementary school kids. He took over in April 2011 from Stephanie Covey, a 22-year-old public relations senior.
"He has a high level of energy that's highly contagious," she said.
Carly Wilson
UF Student Senator Carly Wilson started college as a biology major, but someone told her, "If you want to help people, do politics."
She switched to political science that year, and that mentality pushed her toward Student Government. She served as a replacement senator for two summers before she was elected to the Senate her junior year.
Wilson is now the Students Party treasurer candidate. She is a senator for District C and a member of the Budget Committee. Last semester, she was the chairwoman of a temporary transparency committee, and she has served as an assistant director in the Community Political Affairs cabinet.
However, Wilson said her greatest moment in SG was leaving the Unite Party, which she ran with in Fall 2010. She said she didn't like being told how to vote, so she left in the summer.
Former Students Party President Andrew Hart met Wilson through Senate. She was still in the Unite Party, and he was in the Student Alliance Party.
"Carly is the one person always leading the fights," he said.
She said she wants to make it easier for student organizations to get and keep money for their events.
Hart said she was always making sure Senate budgets were balanced.
"Friendship aside, she does have a good head on her shoulders," he said.
Students Party executive candidates, Alex Cornillie, Jesse Schmitt and Carly Wilson, pose for a campaign photo.
