After serving on the Freshman Class Council as well as the Yale College Council, Maia Eliscovich Sigal ’16 said she hopes to utilize her deep understanding of the Yale administration in the role of next year’s YCC vice president.

Eliscovich Sigal’s prior experiences make her the most qualified candidate for the role, she said, adding that she knows how to navigate the channels through which YCC members and administrators implement change.

“I know how long it takes to conduct a survey, write a report and present it to the council,” she said. “I’ve also worked with the administration, and I know how it works with them.”

Eliscovich Sigal said she has gained the support of her fellow YCC representatives, many of whom will likely serve on the council again next year. Because the vice president leads YCC meetings, respect from fellow council members is essential, she added.

As vice president, Eliscovich Sigal said she would hold office hours and connect with other leaders of campus organizations in order to amass student ideas and opinions.

“We need to listen to more students,” she said. “We are students, but just because we did YCC instead of another extracurricular doesn’t mean our voices are more important.”

As vice president, Eliscovich Sigal said she hopes to improve student services by pushing the University to accept credit cards in all residential college butteries, improve mental health services and provide low-cost summer storage options.

Additionally, she plans to help standardize seminar registration, ban problem sets during shopping period and ensure that the Yale College grading system remains based on a letter-grading scale. She also hopes to continue advocating for mixed gender housing for sophomores.

“She was always a person I could go to if I had questions,” said Michael Marcel ’16, who worked with Eliscovich Sigal on the YCC’s proposal to extend mixed-gender housing to sophomores. “She was always available and had great opinions to offer.”

Marcel said she consistently made herself available and hosted office hours to meet with other representatives about the project.

Madeline Bauer ’17, who also worked with Eliscovich Sigal on YCC projects, said Eliscovich Sigal is prepared for the role because of her extensive experience working on student life projects.

“She’s a clear leader,” Bauer said. “She would check in with me on our project at least once each week to see how it was going, and she was committed to talking to the right administrators.”

As YCC Student Life Chair this year, Eliscovich Sigal organized the athletics subcommittee, managed YCC’s summer storage program and helped carry through last semester’s student referendum on divestment.

HAILEY WINSTON