RPC candidates offer differing skillsets, styles

2/10/15 8:50am

Rice Program Council presidential candidates Dixita Viswanath and Jodie Nghiem present different approaches to leadership centered upon their current roles in the organization. Viswanath, a Will Rice College junior, is the publicity co-chair while Nghiem, a McMurtry College sophomore, is the socials co-chair.

Nghiem said she has two years left at Rice, allowing for the possibility of either a second term or the ability to provide mentorship to the next president.

“Continuity in leadership is important,” Nghiem said. “I’ll be there after my term as a source of guidance.”

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Viswanath said being a part of Rice Emergency Medical Services provided her with a sense of calm in stressful situations as well as the ability to see the big picture of any event.

“I redesigned the website and added a line-by-line budget so students can see exactly where their blanket tax goes for each event,” Viswanath said. “I have different ideas that I want to see changed, [such as] the entrance fees for some of our events so it could be a more equal chance for everyone.”

Nghiem cited her crisis management throughout Esperanza as evidence of her communication expertise, and stated that the RPC president would need to deal with emergencies and unexpected difficulties.

“The [Esperanza] experience has taught me to keep calm during high-stress situations, [so I] really think about choices as we run at them,” Nghiem said. “[I learned to] deal with repercussions and respond to student feedback. My co-chair and I responded to every single email and created an extensive FAQ to answer any questions.”

Both candidates stressed that they respect each other but have different visions for the organization. 

“As publicity chair, Dixita is more in charge of how RPC is perceived,” Nghiem said. “At the end of the day, RPC is planning events, and my experience gives me the perspective I need to really improve RPC. RPC is my Rice experience.”

Viswanath said her role of gaining feedback actually aids the co-chairs and said she has different skills to offer from Nghiem.

“I have a very broad way of thinking and very specific goals for RPC,” Viswanath said. “Jodie’s a socials chair and is very focused on individual events. As publicity chair, my role is more big picture. I help bring students to events and see how we can improve by gauging student feedback and incorporating social media into this.”

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