As the 2025 BYUSA election on Feb. 27 approaches, candidates are rallying support and sharing their visions to shape the campus experience for the coming year.
BYUSA, which stands for Brigham Young University Student Service Association, strives to create connections and inclusivity on campus through events and service opportunities.
As president of this association, the elected student provides administration, develops and teaches organizational guidelines, budgets and monitors funds, ensures the integrity of the association and determines programs and activities during their administration.
Three different BYUSA campaigns have taken over campus and social media, each one projecting its different goals and initiatives for BYU.
Ella Paligo and Caleb Rogers
From participating in social media trends on Instagram to projecting their passion for purpose, vice presidential candidate Ella Paligo and presidential candidate Caleb Rogers have made significant strides to connect with students in their campaign.
Both Paligo and Rogers have served and led within BYUSA, and they feel it’s only right to give back and connect other students to the association.
“As I’ve served on campus, one of my priorities has always been to help other people to get involved so they can find greater belonging,” Rogers said.
Through their campaign slogan, "This is our Y," Rogers and Paligo hope to help students discover their purpose at BYU. By fostering connections among students and increasing involvement in campus activities, their campaign aims to guide students toward a sense of direction and belonging.
“We want to help each student to know what their purpose is, and we want to help them find it,” Rogers said.
The feeling of being alone and having no direction is no stranger to presidential candidate, Caleb Rogers. He noted that BYUSA and service allowed him to find his purpose.
“Despite initially struggling when I first came to BYU – struggling to find my place, to make friends, and to feel like I belong – I also felt a pull to just get involved and meet people,” Rogers said.
Rogers and Paligo said they want to extend that same invitation to students all across campus. Obtaining a sense of belonging can be difficult, but this campaign emphasizes that every student is a part of BYUSA and has the power to create change.
“Every single student is a part of BYUSA and every single student is a part of our campaign because they’re the reason that we’re doing it,” Paligo said.
Janalyn Finnie and Jacob Leavitt
Jacob Leavitt, running for BYUSA president, and Janalyn Finnie, running for BYUSA executive vice president, are advocating for connection and giving back to the institution that shaped who they are.
Finnie and Leavitt said they are going full throttle on protecting and persevering BYUSA’s motto – "Students Serving Students." Both candidates acknowledged that the core of the association can easily become entangled in bureaucracy. However, Leavitt and Finnie aspire to steer BYUSA back to its roots: service and students.
“We want to improve the training and simplify the paperwork process so students can spend more time serving,” Leavitt said.
This campaign also highlights their vision of improving the connection students have to BYUSA. To outsiders, BYUSA may seem like an exclusive club, but Leavitt and Finnie said they want to break down those barriers and make involvement more accessible.
“We want to work on more unified recruitment efforts across different areas to bring in students who don’t already have connections to BYUSA,” Leavitt said.
By reaching out to students who don’t have networks or connections, Leavitt and Finnie hope to tap into a diverse array of talents that can strengthen the association.
With the motto, "A Light to All the World," this campaign seeks to shine a light on the service students can contribute to BYU through connection, leadership and celebration.
Chloee Uluave and Cameron Jenkins
Chloee Uluave, running for BYUSA president, and Cameron Jenkins, campaigning for BYUSA executive vice president, are combining their efforts under the motto Choose to Lead.
“The ultimate goal of our platform is to empower students to take hold of the leadership opportunities in front of them and to help them realize that they can be a leader wherever they are,” Uluave said.
Their campaign emphasizes that students don’t need to hold formal leadership positions to make an impact. Under their motto, they aspire to educate, direct and prepare students for service opportunities at BYU.
Uluave and Jenkins hope to direct students to increase involvement by connecting them with leadership and service opportunities on campus. One of the main problems they aim to address is the lack of collaboration between different entities on campus. Jenkins notes that he is committed to bridging this gap.
“We want to bridge this gap between athletics, students, and other entities on campus so that we can plan successful events,” Jenkins said.
Through this bridge, the candidates plan on fostering a sense of belonging among students. For Jenkins and Uluave, this sense of belonging came through BYUSA.
“BYUSA gave me a sense of belonging, and I just want to give other students an opportunity and chance to feel that,” Jenkins said.
Uluave and Jenkins said the "Choose to Lead" campaign is for everyone – not just students who already have leadership positions. And like most people at BYU, Uluave and Jenkins said they are normal students who have the desire to serve.
“And because of this desire, we’re gonna put our 100% into this,” Jenkins said.
To find out more about each of these campaigns and their initiatives, attend the Campus Q&A and Open House on Feb. 20 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Varsity Theater.