Upcoming Events

Hi neighbors! My name is Momin Ghaffar, and I’m running for Webmaster on the Lakeside Apartments Committee. I’m running because I’ve lived at Lakeside since the summer of 2022 with my fiancée, and participating on the Lakeside Apartments Committee would provide me a meaningful opportunity to give back to this community that has given us so much. Truthfully, we’ve really come to appreciate how this community has both felt like home and has been the site of so many special memories (we got engaged during the second year of my fiancée’s PhD program and after living at Lakeside for a few months)!

As for my qualifications, I have 10+ years of professional experience (yes, this means I’m quite a bit older than the average Lakeside resident!) in tech, data, and IT consulting where I’ve empowered fellow colleagues and clients alike with key information from well-maintained websites and company intranets to share documents and other critical resources via Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, SharePoint, DocuSign, etc. Not only would you be casting a vote for a new Webmaster, but you’d also be casting a vote for a technical point-of-contact and resource to assist with troubleshooting issues. Moreover, with my industry experience I’d like to explore opportunities to squeeze even more functionality out of the existing Lakeside Apartments web interface to deliver additional value on top of your baseline expectations of timely updates of meeting minutes, notices, and community-wide communications. It is my belief that all of your invaluable feedback coupled with my zeal in leveraging a technical background will ultimately lead to an exceedingly engaged, informed, and digitally-empowered Lakeside community.Thank you for taking the time to learn a bit more about me and my platform. I look forward to earning your vote, and I look even more forward to meeting all of you!

Name: Silvia Trinczek

Office: Vice Chair

Campaign statement:

Hi, my name is Silvia. I’m a third year graduate student in the Princeton Plasma Physics Program and I would be delighted to be your new vice chair. 

I was super happy to move into Lakeside in the summer of 2023. Lakeside is a great space for graduate students and I would do my best in supporting the new chair at maintaining and improving our lovely homes. 

As the vice chair, it is my job to ensure that everyone on the committee stays connected and gets the helping hand that they need for whatever they are up to. Everyone in the committee comes in with new ideas and I see it as the role of the vice chair to make sure that all initiatives get the support and manpower that they need. 

I have previously served on various student committees as social chair, vice-chair, and currently co-chair of the graduate student committee in my program. I know what it is like to get a ton of emails, keep meetings on track and ensure that things run smoothly in the background. Thanks to my experience in many different committee roles, I believe that I would be a good choice to assist the new chair and everyone on the committee.

Many thanks,

Silvia

Hello everyone!

My name is Neelima Borade and I am running to serve as secretary on the Lakeside Committee. I am a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Mathematics, studying algebraic number theory with Christopher Skinner. I have lived in Lakeside since I was a G2. I love the Lakeside community and  I would like to give back to it. It would be an honor to serve on the Lakeside committee and I will do my very best to work with the board members and streamline communication between the residents here and the admin if I am selected to serve as secretary. My previous experience in public relations will help me to do a good job if I am selected.

I have worked more than one summer at the Firestone Library Information Desk, where I had to organize communication, answer phone calls, and keep detailed logs of day-to-day transactions with library patrons. I had to communicate back and forth with library patrons and library staff, which taught me firsthand how important it is to listen carefully and take notes when required, so that I can relay all the relevant information to the admin, without losing anything important.  Additionally, in my undergraduate years,  I served as president of my undergraduate math club, where I scheduled talks, kept track of events, and managed communication among various departments within the university and with external speakers. Both these positions have taught me the importance of good note-taking and timely and effective communication.

I think that a secretary can not only practice good documentation but also commit to listening to the voices of everyone in the community, making sure that everyone is heard, and has the information they need to thrive as a member of the Lakeside community. If I am elected I will do my best to fulfill this responsibility, by working with the rest of the committee, listening carefully to everyone’s concerns, comments, and or suggestions during the Town Hall meetings, taking detailed notes, and responding promptly to emails and Slack questions. I am enthusiastic about the possibility of serving as secretary and enhancing the lives of residents by answering their questions, and connecting them with the appropriate resources when required. Thank you for considering my candidacy, 

Best regards,

Neelima

Office: External Relations Delegate

Candidate Statement:

Hello! My name is Yiying Tan, and I’m a fourth-year graduate student in Economics. I’m running to continue my work as External Relations Delegate on the Lakeside committee. 

When I was elected to the role in this summer’s special election, I communicated that my main priorities would be to 1) work with ACC and the rest of the Lakeside Committee to improve package delivery issues, 2) transmit resident feedback and input on policies to Transportation and Parking Services, Housing, and Public Safety promptly, and 3) continue and iterate on the great Greening Move Out initiative by the last External Relations Delegate, Sophia. 

I intend to continue prioritizing these issues, and I have already made progress in my short time so far as the external relations delegate: 

a) Proposed potential solutions for resolving package issues have been raised in the most recent town hall; the reception was fairly positive, and I intend to work with the rest of the Lakeside committee on

• Creating a clearly demarcated corner in apartment buildings for packages that have been misdelivered (meant for the wrong apartment building) to simplify package re-sorting/ scouting. I intend to explore also having a label/ separate corner for packages (purposely) delivered to apartment lobbies for nearby townhouses. 
• Creating a “lost packages” form and pinning this to the Lakeside Slack to make it easier for students to inform other students and/or management about lost packages so that they might be easier to keep track of. 

b) I have been/ will be attending meetings with the Grad Housing Advisory Committee and Grad Dining Advisory Committee, and have been/ will be actively soliciting resident input before these meetings; where applicable, I have updated students on the outcome of raising these issues. I have also attended two GSG meetings and look forward to attending the transport and public safety meetings. 

• Collecting Feedback: My suggestion to pin the anonymous feedback form to the Lakeside Slack to improve accessibility has also had a positive reception; I also intend to work on making a more structured (but still streamlined) form so that feedback on specific issues can be more easily communicated. 

c) I remain excited about continuing Greening Move Out, and hope, if re-elected, to work with the resident community, Lakeside Committee, and relevant external stakeholders to explore how we could make furniture easier to organize and sort through/ exchange. 

My experience on the committee has so far been a positive and productive one, and I would love the opportunity to continue in this role and finish the job!

Hi, Lakeside! I’m Isabelle, a PhD student in the French department, and after my previous role as the Lakeside Secretary, I’m now running to be the committee Chair for the 2024-25 year.

For the past two years as Secretary, I’ve facilitated communication between Lakeside residents and admin by taking detailed minutes at the Town Halls and responding promptly to committee emails and Slack questions. But beyond this role of relaying information, I’ve also sought to be an active advocate on behalf of residents, by taking the initiative to follow up with management about ongoing issues and to implement student suggestions: to give one example, last year, I
helped spearhead the initiative to purchase sports equipment for the Lakeside property (which can now be found near the volleyball court for anyone to check out). One of the Chair’s main duties is to ensure that committee decisions are carried out, and I believe my efforts as Secretary have prepared me to take on this leadership.

As Chair, I will have a greater organizational role in planning and running Town Halls, and will make sure to send on-time reminders to residents to encourage greater participation. I will also be happy to be involved in coordinating social activities––I’m already hoping to bring back the extract-making event around the holidays, and would love to collaborate with the Garden Coordinator to do a vegetable pickling event next season!

Finally, one of my main goals as Chair is to continue the partnership we’ve already built with the Office of Sustainability and hold donation drives on a more regular basis, in addition to the one we already do through the Greening Move-Out initiative. Especially around move-in and move-out time, there is always confusion about miscellaneous items left around the mailrooms––are they donations, or trash, or do they belong to someone? I would love to find a systematic solution for this, perhaps by setting up an ongoing designated donation area at Lakeside, so that our community can be cleaner, more sustainable, and more respectful of everyone’s property.
Thanks!

Hi Lakeside community, Akil here!  If you don’t know me personally, you’ve probably at least met or seen my dog, Zoey!  I love Lakeside and the community its creating, and I would like to use my experiences to help represent Lakeside Apartments.

Since I received an M. Eng. from here, I am considered a 4^th year Electrical Engineering Ph.D student.  During my time here, I’ve worked directly with the administration, served on the GSG assembly, and served on university planning committees to represent various groups and vocalize issues they may have, such as 6^th year funding for Humanities students.

Issues I’d like to approach this coming year include, the development of the waterfront and its existing picnic areas, adding lighting to the walkway from Faculty Rd. to the Taylor Ct. apartment building, adding a few weights to the exercise room, and adding a small dog park.  I consider myself to be a rational person, who when dealing with issues of concern to external bodies, I don’t just take “no” and “we can’t do that” without good, fact-based explanations.  If I get External Relations Delegate position, I will be responsive to Lakeside issues brought to my attention, and will make sure to keep Lakeside residents updated when discussing these issues with external bodies.

Even if I don’t get the position, if you see me walking around with Zoey, come up and pet her if you like or if you see me grilling specifically with a group of people in Commons, come say hi, cause I will probably have extra food.

See you around!

Akil Word-Daniels

Please join us on July 13 at 6 pm for a reception in the Lakeside Commons, to celebrate the artists who submitted the artwork on display in the commons. There will be ice cream.

Sponsored by the Graduate School