LISTEN: An interview with Tanner Schinderle

The KCPR News team sat down with political science junior and current ASI Chief of Staff Tanner Schinderle, who was recently elected to be the next ASI President. His term starts on June 15. News reporter Aneka Edwards spoke to Schinderle about his campaign and upcoming plans for the next academic year. Read and listen to the full interview below.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Aneka Edwards: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tanner Schinderle: My name is Tanner Schinderle. I am a third-year political science major. I was born and raised in Sacramento, California. I love to play pickleball whenever I can; it’s my favorite extracurricular activity right now. I love food, but especially sushi whenever I can.

AE: What is your position of ASI elected President going to look like?

TS: I’m really honored and excited for the opportunity, and next year is just going to be a lot of fun, a lot of really cool ideas that I’ve talked about throughout my campaign that I’m excited to work on next year.

AE: Tell us a little bit about how you got into student politics and talk to us about the moment that convinced you that you were right for this leadership role.

TS: I’ve been a part of in student government since I was in sixth grade, so this is definitely something I’ve been a part of and have really loved for a really long time. I’ve always said I think that it’s something that makes me feel like I’m actually able to impact people around me and serve those around me, which has always been something that’s really important to me.

When I came to Cal Poly, I joined our ASI Executive Staff program, which is basically like our entry-level way of getting involved in student government, being able to learn about all of our branches, what we do, without having like the full commitment of being a full-on student government member. That next year, I was our secretary of executive staff. Basically, my whole job was overseeing the program that I was a part of in my freshman year. And then this year, I got chosen as our chief of staff, which oversees our entire executive cabinet, kind of working with all ten of our secretaries on every single initiative.

This year, when I started to consider running for president, what made me really just go for it was, like I said, I really love the opportunity to serve people. The things that we were able to do this year — from the grocery shuttle to pushing for more transparency with housing with our off-campus tenants — everything like that. There was so much work that we did that I just, when I was thinking about it, I was like, it would be a bad thing if we weren’t able to continue that effort and all the work that we started this year. And so, it really just made me realize that all the things that I’ve been able to do this year I think have really made an impact on students’ lives, and I want that to be able to continue.

AE: It’s been wonderful to see all of that progress and you get to continue it. So, we did see you in the UU practically the whole week encouraging students to vote. What was that final campaign looking like for you? How were you feeling when you won?

TS: When I won, I was honestly really shocked to hear the numbers of the election. It was a really surreal moment. I mean, there’s the photo that you see on ASI and Mustang News —I’m literally bent over because I was just so shocked to hear those numbers. I just felt really honored and it was really humbling to see that so many students believed in what I had been campaigning on. It was a really cool moment, a really surreal moment and I’m just really grateful to have been able to earn so many votes.

AE: Yeah, that was an awesome photo. Well, just kind of building off that, how did you celebrate? Did you do anything fun after to celebrate the big win?

TS: Well, I unfortunately had a couple meetings directly after the election results. But then that night was able to hang out with my friends and go out and celebrate with everyone which was a lot of fun.

AE: What other emotions kind of came up for you when you won?

TS: I mean, really in that initial moment, I also just realized how real it was becoming. This wasn’t just a campaign I was running anymore, but I’m now going to have to really follow through on everything that I’ve been talking about and promising. And so it was also this moment of realization of, “Oh my gosh, this is really happening,” and that I just have a full year ahead of me of all this stuff to do.

AE: Yeah, exciting. So I guess now pivoting away from you as a person, let’s dive into your campaign. So it centered heavily on affordability — what is one change you think students will actually feel in their day-to-day lives that you’re hoping to bring?

TS: A couple things. One, with dining, I hope that students can feel more affordable options here on campus. I know that that’s a really big thing for students is you go to buy a meal and it’s $20. I hope that by the end of my term, you can be able to actually find those affordable options here on campus.

I hope that you feel more transparency from the city in terms of landlord relationships, making sure that our landlords are more transparent directly with student tenants.

And I hope that students know about a lot of the resources that are available to them. For example, I want every student to know their access to things like EBT that allow them to be able to afford groceries off campus at grocery stores.

AE: All of those sound right up my alley as a student. When you go through this leadership process and you’re coming up with ideas on how to support students, what kind of inspires you? What gets you to that point where you are trying to come up with these ideas?

TS: Well, for example, this year, what I really started to think about was kind of in my experience with Cal Poly: what are the things not only that I am looking for right now, but that I wish I would have had as a resource when I was maybe like a first year? For example, that’s kind of where the grocery shuttle really came from — this is something students like I would have wanted that as a freshman to be able to go to the grocery store.

And then really reaching out to other people, club leaders, organization leaders to hear about their experiences and what they really want and what their club members have talked about wanting. So a lot of conversation, a lot of brainstorming and then being able to come up with a concrete plan on how to enact them. My whole thing when I was creating my campaign is I never wanted to add something to my platform that I didn’t think I could actually do. And so it was really important to me, if I was going to talk about affordability and I was going to talk about housing, dining and transportation, that I was able to point to something that I knew I actually could do within my term as president.

AE:With your grocery shuttle, that was one of your biggest accomplishments on staff at ASI. So, what did that teach you kind of about listening to students’ needs and turning that into actionable change on campus?

TS: I think the short answer is, to me, it really highlights that when ASI truly listens to students and what they want, real change can be made. I think that the fact that over 4,000 students used it in just winter quarter really highlights that. But it also taught me a lot about how to actually get things done.

It taught me how to really effectively and efficiently get bigger projects done within a really short amount of time. We really started that work in July and were able to have it pretty much solidified by October, which sounds maybe like a long time, but that’s a really quick turnaround for a big project like that. I think it really showed me how we can get things like that done really quickly.

AE: It’s really cool to see that you were able to kind of bring that ground up to where now you see the actual grocery shuttle, and it’s working. Students are using it. That’s awesome. So, and then kind of moving into — you’re coming into this position during a major change in Cal Poly’s history, the semester conversion. So, what kind of concerns have you heard from students, and how do you, as chief of staff and leader of ASI, plan to help them through this?

TS: So I mean, semester conversion I think is something, all of you who are staying here, we’ve all been thinking about. The concerns I mainly hear come from students not knowing what they’re supposed to be registering for, like the amount of classes they’re supposed to be registering for or if they’re staying on the quarter system — I mean, there’s some students who really think they’re staying on the quarter system next year as an actual option.

And so there’s just a lot — everything around semester conversion is confusing for students. We have this year started to work really closely with a lot of our advising teams here on campus. This Thursday, actually in the UU, we’re hosting a semester conversion advising fair. So every college’s advising center, the university advising center, ASI, the leaders of the semester conversion — they’re all going to be there as a way for students to directly hear all the advice they could possibly have.

It comes at a perfect time because all the class availability has just opened up for students to see what courses they could take in semesters. It’s a really good opportunity to come with very specific questions to advisers directly in the UU Plaza to ask all of those questions.

AE: That’s really cool. Definitely needed. I see on my end a lot of confusion. But I’m glad that ASI is doing something about that. And just kind of going off that, what is kind of your role as president when getting these projects off the ground? Do you have a specific position you’re in or anything that is specific to your role as president?

TS: I will be in a lot of meetings about semester conversion or the maritime integration or soon-to-be year-round operations. What I see my role as is, if I’m the person who has to be in those meetings and I’m the person who has to share that information that I’m learning and being able to garner student feedback, tell students what’s happening, everything like that.

I really see my role as kind of being able to get all this information, condense it down for students, and being able to share as widely as possible so that students have all the information that they could possibly need. A lot of the time, I am the only student in those spaces and in those rooms, and so that comes with a higher level of responsibility of making sure that if they’re trusting me with that information, I’m able then to share it out with everyone who needs to hear it.

AE: In what ways do you kind of share this information with the students, and where can they find it and is there any resources that you guys have in the ASI office that students can go to?

TS: Yeah, so we have a couple different strategies that we’ve used. Social media has become an increasingly important strategy for us to make sure students are seeing information. We have a bunch of hyperlinks on our website to different information, so you can find information about semester conversion available that is already posted across campus in one place.

A lot of things like that, and just kind of working with people like Mustang News, for example, of making sure that we’re providing information to them to write articles about semester conversion, everything like that. So it kind of depends on the circumstance, but really just looking for any way possible that students would be able to see information like that.

AE: That’s really cool. You’re kind of like chief of communication as well. That’s awesome. So, our last question to end on a fun note: If you had the opportunity to have dinner with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

TS: Right now, I’d say Noah Kahan just because his new album just came out on Thursday. So, I’ve been listening to that on repeat, and I have started to watch that documentary he just came out with. So, he’s right now just who I’d want to chat with and maybe get some extra tickets to his tour.

AE: Exactly. Maybe he’ll add you as a background dancer.

TS: Yeah, exactly.

AE: Is his music danceable?

TS: Yeah, sometimes.

AE: Alrighty, Tanner. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. This was really enlightening to hear, and I hope somebody can take something away from this interview and congratulations again on getting elected. I’m so excited to see, I’m sure we all are, what you’re going to be doing as ASI president. So, well, have a good rest of your day. Thank you!

TS: Thank you for having me.

Fiona Hastings transcribed the audio interview. Ty Soria recorded the interview.