Suraj Nellore moved around a lot growing up — from the United Kingdom to France, India and Australia — and constantly found himself in a new place, not knowing anyone.
“I didn’t necessarily know if I fit in anywhere, so very similar to the freshman experience that we all have,” said Nellore, a junior.
Nellore said he wanted to create spaces on campus where people could be themselves, inspiring him to create EmpowerBU and run as the presidential candidate.
As one of the two slates running in the 2025-2026 Student Government Executive Board election, EmpowerBU aims to elevate the Boston University campus experience by listening to student voices.
The slate’s mission is “to build a stronger campus through community, culture, and academics” that ensures every student reaches their full potential, according to the slate’s platform.
“I always really appreciated the people in my life, when I moved around from place to place, who took the time to create space for me to feel confident in who I was,” Nellore said. “I feel like I can have that same exact impact on all 16,000 students here at BU.”
He enlisted three student leaders who saw his vision to join his slate.
Natalie Reilly, a sophomore and current president of the College of Communication StuGov, is the executive vice president of EmpowerBU. Reilly said she hopes to broaden her constituency beyond COM.
“[Being] elected on a larger scale is something that would be really meaningful to me in terms of making an impact on the student body at a higher level than just one college,” Reilly said. “Seeing what we had put together was really exciting for me, and that made me want to pursue it more.”
EmpowerBU’s vice president of finance is sophomore Bryce Thompson, who also has previous leadership experience as the Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Questrom School of Business StuGov.
Thompson is also the current treasurer for UMOJA, BU’s Black student union, and has a history of leadership in diversity and inclusion programs such as the Questrom Ascend Fellowship and the Questrom DEI Committee.
“A big thing for us as a school slate is representation, and so we are part of a lot of different organizations on campus, and we’ve penetrated a lot of these different spaces,” Thompson said.
Sophomore Alara Baran, EmpowerBU’s vice president of internal affairs, is the vice president of membership for the Delta Gamma sorority and a Kilachand Honors College ambassador. She said her engineering background motivated her to collaborate through StuGov, and she emphasized the slate’s commitment to inclusion.
“There’s a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts that go into planning and Student Government, and I think maximizing that diversity of thought and those different thinking processes is really important,” Baran said.
EmpowerBU’s platform summarizes its mission into three pillars: adapt, include and mobilize.
“Our main purpose with AIM was to have this confidence for students going into their academic careers and so that they can feel comfortable entering academic and career related spaces,” Baran said.
The “Adapt” pillar discusses the slate’s plans to give students the “support, resources, and transparency” necessary to navigate their academic journey as the BU community grows.
Nellore said he has had a “tedious journey” navigating job applications and obtaining H-1B visas, making accessibility for international students a motivator for his platform.
Some of the “Adapt” initiatives include partnering with BU’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, hosting international student career fairs and making class evaluations more efficient for students and faculty.
The slate is unified in its shared urge to increase school spirit around campus, evident by the initiatives in their “Include” pillar.
EmpowerBU plans to create and amplify traditions at BU, such as pushing for street fairs at BU Beach and expanding student lounge spaces.
Another proposed tradition is a student time capsule, where freshmen will have the opportunity to write something down for their future selves to open up once they’re seniors, helping students realize their growth while at BU, Reilly said.
“This is just a great way to incorporate tradition into a community,” Reilly said. “It’s a fun way to look back on your years.”
Lastly, the “Mobilize” pillar discusses efforts to tackle issues including sexual assault, DEI and mental health. The group plans to work with spaces such as the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and BU Admissions to answer questions students may have about BU’s future as an institution.
“Saying that you care is not enough. Showing up is so much more,” Thompson said. “Having that connection allows for us to not only further develop but also create that welcoming space where people feel comfortable coming to us.”
EmpowerBU is still having conversations to learn what it can do as a governing body on issues such as sexual assault prevention, but “it’s about empowering students,” Nellore said.
“It’s about making sure that they’re not victims to these things,” Nellore said. “It’s about making sure that we’re being proactive and supporting them in whatever way we can.”
The slate expressed its desire to represent every student at BU and implement meaningful initiatives that speak to student concerns and needs.
“EmpowerBU is truly here for the students, and we’re here to empower your voices, your minds and, most importantly, the communities that you’re a part of,” Thompson said. “We want to be a conduit for change.”
