'I saw room for improvement'
When asked to identify the challenges in his first-ever student government campaign, Yousef Ibreak pauses thoughtfully and gives a nervous laugh. He excuses himself from the table at Pandini's to refill his drink and mull over the question. When he returns, he takes a sip and very calmly responds.
"I guess the hardest part has just been time management and prioritizing things. This campaign has been something I think about nonstop, so just switching zones from campaign mode to academic mode has been challenging."
A confident but honest answer from the youngest candidate in this year's race for executive office. A first-year finance and economics student from Irmo, SC, Ibreak has indeed shaken up the status quo of the competition by running for Student Body Treasurer with only six months of Student Government experience on his record.
Ibreak himself admits that he's only been to two Student Senate sessions as a Freshman Council member. However, he's not the least bit diffident about his lack of experience. He sees his newness to Student Government as an advantage over his opponent, second-year political science student and Senate Finance Committee Chair Coy Gibson, whose position has traditionally been seen as precedent to Student Body Treasurer.
"Yes, [Gibson] fulfilled his duties, but there were no changes [under the Senate Finance Committee] that visibly affected the student body this year," Ibreak said. "I bring a new energy by not already being embedded in the system. I bring my own objectives."
Ibreak lays out those objectives in his sole public campaign video, which opens with a shaky 360-degree span of the Horseshoe, Ibreak's favored spot on campus. A recording of his own voice names his three touted campaign ideas: "Innovation, Accessibility and Transparency," which he says were lacking in SG's financial process.
"We were planning events [at a Freshman Council retreat], and I asked an adviser, 'what does our budget look like?' and was told 'that's not controlled by us; don't worry about it,'" Ibreak recalls. "The more I looked into the financial aspect of SG the more vague answers I got. The process of the Senate Finance Committee wasn't very well-known. I saw room for improvement and thought I'd be the person to do it."
Most of the emphasis in his campaign has been on his plan to develop a website that will publicize the exact amount of money which is allotted to each student organization. This, he says, would remove negative feelings about bias in SG's funding process.
"[How senate finance works] is not a common understanding, but it should be because it comes from our student activity fund and students should know how that's being managed," Ibreak said. "A lot of people complain that some organizations are overfunded. I think seeing tangible facts would help remove that attitude."
Outside of serving on the Freshman Council's Committee of Academic and Professional development, Ibreak divides his time between homework and giving campus tours as a Student Ambassador. With three years left at USC, he still has several items to cross off his college bucket list — among them joining Carolina Service Council on an alternative break service trip (he plans on going to New Orleans in March), joining the Roosevelt Institute and playing on an intramural soccer team. However, some of those goals may be deferred depending on the results of the election. As a freshman, he's trying not to let himself get too distracted.
"You want to immerse yourself in as many activities as you can, but one thing that has always been instilled in me is that academics is No. 1," Ibreak said. "Sometimes when I'm up late doing work, I have to remind myself that I'm doing this campaign voluntarily and that this is something I really want. Time management is a college trait that you learn fast. You have to hit the ground running."