Mahilet Mesfin

8105 Wolcott Ave S, Seattle, Washington 98118 │​mm325@uw.edu​│206-849-3101

To whom it may concern,

The position I am seeking within the ASUW is the position of Administrative Assistant
for the ASUW Board of Directors. In witnessing the through work ethic of the Board of
Directors earlier when interning for the Director of Campus Partnerships, I became extremely
interested in representing the student body of the University of Washington by litigating outreach
across campus. The opportunity to provide knowledge for all students is a privilege, and when
handled responsibly, representatives are able to equally serve each person. This thorough process
often goes unacknowledged, however, through past experiences I’ve had the opportunity to
recognize the cruciality of the job. The Board of Directors not only reach out to a few members,
they connect to every branch within ASUW and provide awareness about the importance of
student involvement in government. By understanding the depths of the role, I understand the
major influence that it poses. The role itself represents the importance in ensuring the
participation of any student in order to strengthen our school’s democratic values, and also
addresses the needs for students that often go unheard. Through this influence and
representation, I want to impact the atmosphere at UW very deeply.
​The talents and strengths I would bring to the role of Administrative Assistant position
are things such as advanced communication skills, endurance, and experience. In the past, I have
been placed in many positions where I needed to connect with those around me in order to
strategize, plan and solve any issue we came across. Through my work with others, I was able to
tackle these issues and later provide more progressive methods to prevent the issue resurfacing in
the near future. To my benefit, these past roles have aided in the development of my
communication skills and my ability to use them to create an atmosphere of understanding and
equal acknowledgement for all parties involved. I used my voice to speak for others, but in order
to do this, I first needed to establish maturity by listening. By listening to those around me, the
projects I pursued often were a reflection of their voices. For example, more recently, I was
given the opportunity to work as an intern for the ASUW Director of Campus Partnerships. This
position truly strengthened all my communication skills as I was able to connect to the many
members of the UW community. The internship allowed me to work on my own project, and I
whole heartedly dived into one that I believe is a necessity. I worked with groups such as IFC
and the UWPD to provide students a solidified resource to report biased incidents on campus.
The tool we currently have is not fully established and doesn’t allow students a transparent and
ideal process when reporting the student eliciting a hostile environment. Of course, I was
unhappy with the little effort put in authenticating the tool, and I directly reached out to any
resource I could find to induce more campus involvement to improve it. This includes UWPD’s
Craig Wilson. I was determined to solve this issue and had meetings with Craig and other
UWPD officers, IFC and Directors on the ASUW Board to bring awareness to the issue. I used
the voices of students on campus that often faced biased incidents as guidance when working on
a tool that acknowledged their misrepresentation and allowed a solution for it. The UWPD
provided me with insight on how to strengthen the tool and described the lengths of their
commitment in alleviating the issue. Overall the experience was enlightening, and I was able to
become a better person because of it. My confidence to stand up in professional environments
and use my voice to represent others all while holding a mature disposition has been the
highlight of my college career, and I plan to continue to strengthen this voice in order to reach
large audiences. My communication skills allowed me to create strategic conclusions with
different groups and reasonable ideas that addressed the needs for all parties. While I’m still
working on the project, I have now established connections with different UW groups, and plan
to use my inner workings to promote the execution of multiple events put on by the Elections
Administration Committee throughout campus.

I became determined to understand the legislation process in Student Senate, and built an
endurance to do so. When I first joined ASUW’s Student Senate, I was extremely intimidated by
the advanced and complicated language used by the group and it didn’t help that fellow members
continuously proved to be articulate and intelligent in every statement made. The meetings were
on average two hours long and a majority of the time I didn’t have a clue as to what was
happening. But this of course didn’t stop me from trying to learn. Every Tuesday I forced myself
to focus for those two hours, and learn the pattern the students were all utilizing to communicate
their beliefs effectively. The litigation processes soon became ingrained in my head, and I
became extremely interested in the culture of Senate. I fell in love with how entrusted the
students were in representing constituents and passing bylaws. The responsibility each Senator
possessed was evident and seemed to influence how they chose to reform or strengthen policies.
I endured in attempting to reach the same level as my peers, and as I still haven’t processed
every rule quite yet, my determination was prominent. I will use this same determination when
addressing all aspects my assistant position. If I don’t understand a concept or know how to
address an issue, I will surely endure through the confusion and foster the best solution for each
existing problem .

My goals for the position center around a more inclusive environment for all candidates
and students. I believe by extensive outreach and enabling/facilitating discussion around what it
means to be “diverse”, we can foster representation that highlight all groups on campus. I know
that through my experience in participating in the ASUW that if it weren't for my involvement in
student government, I would have no idea about how the system works. I want groups that often
go unrecognized when reforming policies to be represented, I would love to help aid Board of
Directors through this process. When students do get involved, it's often through force of friends
or incentives instead of self-determinative means. I believe we have a responsibility to equally
represent all people on campus. Those of color, those who are commuting or transferring, or
international students who often don’t see their face in a place of authority. This could essentially
be the reason behind the little involvement of students in government, and I believe have the
ability to change this. There are so many groups on campus, and some are not represented by the
ASUW, these people make up a large portion of the school. By reaching out to these groups, we
can help contribute to UW’s democracy and create an opportunity for them to to reach out to the
Directors, I also plan to be an aid for the Directors as they do this. I will perform all duties that
are asked of me both thoroughly and consciously, while also acting as a guide for the Board of
Directors in terms of connecting students all across campus

I envision this role as opportunity to enact change on campus and address the
misrepresentation we often face. Many times students find no portrayals that reconciles what it
meant to identify with their culture and be a student all at once, and I hope to change this by a
creating space for discussion and education makes addressing these issues more accessible. It
allows our ASUW constituents to grow within themselves without having to feel that they need
to behave or look a certain way to contribute all of UW’s community, just have the confidence to
do so by attempting to understand their struggle. I understand that this will be a challenge, but
it’s certainly one I’m willing to fight against to make sure all people play their important role in
student government.

Thank you ASUW, for your time, I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Mahilet Mesfin