Nominees

Nominee for President

Clayton Cullaton is pursuing a MATS in New Testament Studies. After serving with InterVarsity for ten years, he and his family moved to Vancouver in the summer of 2022. Clayton is invigorated by any opportunity to learn something new and share his learning with others. Nothing would make him happier than to spend his life helping others learn to read and inhabit the story of scripture as they bear God's image in the world.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

CC: I believe Regent College has a meaningful role to play in God's work in the world, both locally and globally. I'm struck by the reality that when students, faculty, and staff gather (from all over the world), Christ is in the midst of us! This reality propels me as a student and draws me to the role of RSCA President.

I want to offer my leadership, creativity, and hopefulness in a pivotal season in our community's life together. As a supervisor at InterVarsity, I found deep joy in supporting and coordinating a team of skilled people in pursuit of a shared vision. I hope to do the same in this role. As we face a season of transition, our students will also need places of continuity. My time on the Executive team this past year will provide a smooth transition from one year to the next. As a student, I've been blessed by the solid leadership of RCSA Presidents. I hope to carry forward their excellent work of discernment and cooperation with faculty and the Board.

Currently, there is no nominee for the VP Operations seat. The nomination period will remain open for this position until April 23, 2024. Nomination details can be accessed here. A special election will be held at the end of the month.

Nominee for VP Academic

Growing up in a military family grew within me a nomadic, adventurous spirit from a young age. I consider Colorado home as it is where I lived the longest and where my parents still live, but I get homesick for NYC where I did my undergraduate at New York University, double majoring in Food Studies and Latin American Studies. Before coming to Regent to pursue an MDiv, I spent several years living in Puerto Rico doing student ministry with the Navigators. Alongside my studies, I am currently involved as an Artizo Apprentice at St. John’s Anglican church, where I continue to work with college students. I enjoying filling my small margin of free time running and biking through the beautiful parks of Vancouver.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

ZC: I believe passionately that Christ is present with us in our studies. My hope as a student, on or off RCSA, is to be a part of shaping the academic and spiritual climate at Regent, holding excellence in academics together with joyful worship to God. I would love to have a role where I can give voice to students’ experiences in the classroom and be a part of shaping the academic environment at Regent to be stimulating and rigorous but not burdensome, recognizing the increasing reality of burnout among students. I am someone who both listens and speaks up, so I would be a strong advocate for the student body, building a bridge between students and faculty that mutually edifies both. Also, I just really really love learning! I hope as Academic VP to shape the culture at Regent to draw out that joy in others.

I am a second year MATS student with an interdisciplinary concentration. I completed my BA in environmental studies in Pennsylvania. Before I moved to Vancouver, I was living in Sweden where I worked as a middle school science teacher and school administrator. My wife, Eunice, is also a Regent student and it has been wonderful to share the Regent experience together.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

JD: One of the things that I love most about Regent is that it encourages theology to be lived and experienced; the ideas that we wrestle with in our classes can be fleshed out in the atrium, in our friendships with one another, and in our community as a whole. I am interested in the VP Student Life role as I believe that a healthy communal life is central to our theological education. Regent is full of amazing people with unique gifts and I want to facilitate connections between people so that these gifts may be recognised, cultivated, and enjoyed. Each student experience will be unique and comes with joys as well as challenges. Therefore I will commit to advocating for the various social, practical, and spiritual needs that students face. It is my hope that our community and the individuals that make it up would thrive.

There is no nominee for Arts MAL seat. The nomination period remains open for this position until April 23, 2024. Please nominate for this important position!

Hello, my name is Matthew Onishi, I am working on the MATS degree with a focus on the Old Testament. Alyssa is my spouse, and you may have seen her around the school with our young son Kenji. We came up from the Seattle area a year and a half ago after looking for a school on the west coast that would keep us relatively close to family. Apart from my interest in the OT, I am an avid woodworker, usually working on a variety of furniture. Lyssa and I are also big board game fans (read, we are big nerds). Since coming to Regent we have realized that we feel a sense of calling to remain connected to learning communities, supporting and hosting as we can.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

MO: I am running for this position due to my recognition that each of the various groups at Regent need representation in the student government (and the college's governing bodies) for their concerns to be heard. For many of us, the time commitments of school, family, work, and church makes participation in the broader community unfeasible, or at least taxing. I am not looking to push more events or commitments onto the plate of our families; rather, I hope that I can represent our concerns and needs to the student government in a way that would help them understand what the families of Regent desire from their community.

I am a 32-year-old M.Div student. I was born in Bangkok, and I grew up in Hong Kong. My heart languages are Cantonese/Mandarin/Thai. I studied marketing and worked in Singapore as a recruiter for a couple of years. I joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Perth, Australia, for a year and went on mission trips to Nepal and China. Before coming to Regent in the Fall of 2021, I worked at a multicultural start-up church in Hong Kong serving the minorities in the neighbourhood. I am passionate about bridging cultures and enjoy connecting with people.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

SL: As a seasoned M.Div. student, I have been involved in and participated in M.Div events and programs. I understand that the M.Div Pastoral Formation Committee seeks to listen to students' voices, hoping to assist M.Div students in serving the church as faithful followers of Jesus. I believe the church's future highly depends on M.Div. students' formation and experience, and I also care deeply for the church's future and each student's journey. Having lived in different countries in Asia, I have observed our distinct spiritualities and other ways of living and relating. I hope to listen more closely, especially to other cultures' voices and experiences, and represent M.Div students' voices honestly. I hope to facilitate more fruitful conversations and together strive to cultivate a kind of belonging that our church and world long for to better serve our global multicultural church.

My name is Sara and I am currently in the MATS program. I was born and raised in Romania and moved to Canada with my family when I was a teenager. Before coming to Regent I worked as a campus minister for two years, and prior to this I was finishing my degree in Political Science. I quickly realized that I was a lot more interested in all things theology, which is why I came to Regent. I am deeply interested in Theology, and learning and understanding how to walk with Jesus better. I am also interested in getting to know people and hearing their stories. At a more general level, I like music, writing, singing, reading, exploring, running and eating good food with friends.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

SA: I am running for this council position because I care deeply about spiritual formation and who we, as individuals and as a collective body are becoming. It is one of the primary reasons I chose to come to Regent.
I think that the most important thing about the Christian life is attaining to Christ-likeness, having a character shaped by Christ. This does not happen overnight, and is not an ad hoc process, but takes intentionality, discipline, and life in community. I would love to have an opportunity to foster spaces where students (myself included) are intentional about journeying with one another towards Christ-likeness. The temptation to replace spiritual vitality with academics is all too real, and I have struggled with this over the past year. It is grievous that we can study God, and learn about Him, but not be transformed. I think that if we study theology and excel in it, but are not increasingly being transformed by Christ, we have missed the mark. I really believe that spiritual formation is not an add on to our education, but the goal of it. Because of this, I really want to be a part of creating an environment where we can encounter God in our academics and day to day life, and as such be transformed. Overall I hope to contribute with ideas and strategies about how we might make education at Regent more integrative and holistic.

I’m in the MACS program and from Northern Ireland. I enjoy going for coffee with friends, running and watching a good sitcom.

Q:Why are you running for this position?

LK: In my previous role as a youth worker, one of my main priorities was creating a community for young people to engage in. I have strong communication and social skills that will be applicable for this role. One of my favourite things to do is meet new people, build relationships and hear their stories. I hope I could do this well in this role, particularly in creating community for people on the fringes.

I am in the MATS Christianity and the Arts track, with my art form being fashion design. Growing up, I got to experience a variety of the arts, but there was always something about traditional clothing styles that caught my attention. Having studied textiles and fashion design in my senior years of high school, God equipped me with the skills and tools to explore my own culture through textiles. This process of equipping has been a common thread in my life. I have always enjoyed learning different languages as a form of connection. Like a knock on the door, it has allowed others to share more about their ethnic and racial cultures. Being born in Canada as part of an immigrant family, my family taught me that my ethnic and racial background were things to treasure and be proud of. Looking back, I can see how both my interest in traditional clothes and languages have been gifts that God has given me to do so.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

FL: The International MAL is an intentional opportunity to exemplify what it means to lean into each other’s stories. My hope is that in doing so, we are able and willing to walk alongside others different from ourselves. As a preschool teacher prior to Regent, I got to witness the deep sense of joy in children when they saw, heard, and felt their whole person being recognized within the community. I would like to foster a similar atmosphere to the Regent community.
This could look like regular opportunities to hear from each other’s particular ethnic and racial backgrounds, where we celebrate joys, understand challenges, and attend to prayer requests that we carry with us. We could also have the opportunity to regularly share particular snacks or foods that make us feel at home. In this way, we as a community can welcome each other to the table. Ultimately, I want to hear from you all, to learn what about your ethnic and racial backgrounds excites you, and how we can share that excitement with everyone at Regent. May we witness how the beauty and hope of the Gospel is experienced within the tapestry of who God has created us to be.

I am a second-year MATS student studying the History of Christianity. Before coming to Regent I did a training school with YWAM, was a teacher for several years, and studied poetry. Some of my favorite places in the world are Rostrevor, Northern Ireland, Capetown, South Africa, and Vancouver, Canada.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

SB: If I were elected to be the RCSA Prayer Member at Large I would like to initiate a series during our midweek prayer where I would invite Regent Faculty and perhaps some special guests to share on personal prayer practices and principles. I hope this would be a place of formation for our community where we could learn and grow together, deepening our prayer lives and our communal life.

First attending summer school in 2006 at Regent, I recently completed a DipCS in 2021 and MACS in 2024. I currently work as Director of Technology for a K-12 public school division and reside in Calgary, Alberta with my wife, two children and a mischievous pug named Ollie. Working as a technology professional in post-secondary and K-12 education since 2008 I have worked for the thoughtful integration of technology into pedagogy and have great passion and concern for the impact on technology on society and how the church can thoughtfully and critically respond to the seismic changes technology has brought.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

JC: As a Regent student and technology professional working in an educational environment I hope to be able to learn and contribute to be able to provide input into creating the most effective remote/online learning possible for theological education at Regent College while articulating the needs and concerns of this increasing segment of the student population.

Hi there! I am a 1st year M.Div student at Regent, currently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. Since graduating in 2018 with my Bachelors in Psychology, I have spent most of my time working alongside the homeless population in my city as an addiction recovery program coordinator. The community that I have found through this role has changed my life and faith in many ways. Outside of work and studies, I enjoy coaching high school sports, spending time with students at my church, keeping houseplants alive, and hosting community gatherings.

Q: Why are you running for this position?

KF: Being a fully remote student at Regent has certainly held its share of obstacles to navigate. After spending some time in Vancouver at the beginning of the school year, that distance is felt even more strongly. Regent's mission and community absolutely make those obstacles worth navigating, and I believe that the framework is already in place to improve the online student experience. I would love the opportunity to work with the council, providing perspective and new ideas about how to improve the distance learner's experience at Regent.