Standing in Tercentenary Theatre on a bright autumn day, Undergraduate Council presidential candidate Tara Raghuveer ’14 gazes straight into the camera as she declares, “It’s the UC’s imperative to start asking students what they want.”

Were it not for Widener Library in the background, it might be easy to mistake Raghuveer’s polished campaign video—which features originally composed music and carefully scripted appeals—for one of the political ads that flooded the airwaves this election season.

Raghuveer’s spot is indicative of the tightly executed campaign that she and her vice presidential running mate Jen Q. Y. Zhu ’14 have led since they began preparing for the race in early September.

As of Friday, the two UC insiders had recruited a core team of 20 members, an official staff list of about 70 people, and an unofficial list of about 220 campaign volunteers. And, they say, their campaign team continues to grow every day.

As they face off against three other tickets, Raghuveer and Zhu are hoping that their organized campaign, diverse experience, and promise to make the UC more relevant will be enough to win them the election. If they succeed, the UC will be run by two women for the first time in four years.

FROM PREFROSH TO THE PODIUM

Sitting side-by-side in Cafe Gato Rojo, Raghuveer and Zhu have an easy chemistry that they say dates back to their first meeting during pre-frosh weekend in 2010.

Raghuveer, who sports thick-framed glasses that take up half her face, speaks with confidence, sometimes deferring to Zhu as they discuss their platform.

In turn, Zhu, who maintains a constant smile even while talking, credits Raghuveer for frequently making her laugh.

Raghuveer and Zhu say that their friendship has been solidified by serving together on the UC, working into the late hours of the night studying statistics, and participating in the Institute of Politics’s Women’s Initiative in Leadership program.

But the two women also emphasize the diverse personal backgrounds and achievements they bring to the ticket.

Raghuveer, a social studies concentrator living in Currier, says she is most proud of her student advocacy work.

After joining the UC in her sophomore year, Raghuveer lobbied representatives of the Harvard Management Company to speak directly to students at a town hall event last spring.

For her part, Zhu—a Quincy resident, pre-med student, and joint concentrator in government and sociology—emphasizes her achievements in data collection.

A UC representative since her freshman year, Zhu created a mid-year survey that was sent out to students to solicit suggestions and to increase awareness of UC initiatives.