On Tuesday evening, the Student Action party released its first four candidates running for ASUC Senate positions in the upcoming ASUC elections.

The candidates are campus juniors Elif Sensurucu, Ricky Seo, Benjamin Heronimus and Kelvin Ervais. They echoed each others’ sentiments on the need to support students during the pandemic and increase diversity and inclusivity efforts.

Ervais previously worked as ASUC Senator Anna Whitney’s community development intern and ASUC Senator Julia Castro’s Greek life director.

He is running on four platforms — sexual violence and sexual harassment prevention, education and support; mental health support for international students; sustainability; and student welfare. Ervais is further advocating for campus to invest more funding into social and mental health workers rather than UCPD.

“Berkeley students should vote for me because I am dedicated and committed to my platforms, have extensive ASUC and leadership experience, and am very open to input and willing to work with others,” Ervais said in an email.

Heronimus is involved in the campus Student Advisory Council on Undergraduate Education and is currently the Engineering Student Council’s chief of staff.

He is running on four different platforms, which are mental health awareness in the engineering community; diversity, equity and inclusivity in STEM; affordability and financial literacy; and academic accessibility.

Heronimus, who said he dreamed of becoming an astronaut, intends to increase aerospace presence on campus and address imposter syndrome after observing a pattern of lack of confidence among campus engineering students.

“All of the students that I meet here are incredible,” Heronimus said. “I want to tell them, ‘You are, of course, enough. You are more than enough. You are amazing.’”

A strong believer in bipartisanship, Seo previously served in the ASUC’s Legal Office as both an intern and associate, in the Judicial Council and in ASUC Senator Apoorva Prakash’s office as the legislative director.

In addition to sexual violence and sexual harassment support and provision of resources for registered student organizations, Seo’s platforms include advancing Korean representation and resources on campus as a broader effort to foster an international student community. According to Seo, if elected, his first priority would be to help students transition back to campus smoothly.

“To me, my community and student’s values come first, and my job will be to extend those views to the greater campus population and the administration,” Seo said in an email.

Sensurucu previously served in the ASUC as outreach campaign manager and spaces director, among other positions. She built her campaign on three main platforms, namely international student advocacy, technology and entrepreneurship and career support.

According to Sensurucu, she aims to increase student exposure to campus entrepreneurship programs, provide resources for technology clubs, advocate for equal representation of women in various positions and support low income students.

“Growing up in Turkey, a country that lacks freedom of speech and expression, I didn’t have the luxury to be politically active,” Sensurucu said in an email. “Since coming to the US, I have done as much as I can to improve the resources available to students around me”

Upcoming ASUC elections will be held virtually from April 5 to 7.