A self confessed black sheep of her family, Kaul found her political alignment opposite to the rest of her family, and spent countless nights debating with her father.
“I don’t know how many nights were spent debating with my father about who should be running and who shouldn’t be running,” Kaul said.
Kaul said she found many ways to act on her passion for politics and debate since she was elected as her student body president in high school.
“I was definitely that kid; anything government-y, I was involved in,” she said. “I’ve done internships with the state, I’ve helped with legislation at the state level, so for me it [becoming an ASUW senator] was a natural fit, taking my passions and turning them into something useful.”
In addition to acting as her first debate partners, Kaul said her parents have been very supportive.
“My parents were very supportive of me when I did do stuff, very proud of me when I succeeded and never just agreed with me because I was their daughter,” Kaul said.
Kaul has been involved in ASUW since her freshman year, sitting as the freshman senate president and an ex officio of the ASUW senate.
Last year she missed re-election because she was the campaign manager for both Megan Degenfelder and Ty McNamee, who are now the ASUW president and vice president respectively. However, due to several resignations, Kaul was able to step up and fill a vacant position on the senate.
Kaul said her time spent off the senate gave her a fresh perspective, and will be her biggest motivation for the coming year.
“I think being an insider who became an outsider who is back on the inside has really opened my eyes to how students really do see us,” she said.
Kaul said she will work hard to open the channels of communication between senators and students so the divide between the two is diminished.
“I’m still a student first,” she said. “I just wear a suit on Tuesday nights.”
“If people have questions or comments or concerns about senate, all our emails are online,” Kaul said. “That’s why we’re here, we need to have student input or we’re not doing our job.”
Kaul said the upcoming semester was going to be tough for ASUW senators, as they will have to decide on student fees for the next two years. She said her big push was to ensure that the senators were smart with student dollars.
Aside from ASUW, Kaul is also the treasurer for the Collegiate Democrats of Wyoming and is the student coordinator for the Good Mule Project, a program run out of the Service, Leadership and Community Engagement office.
After graduating from UW, Kaul said she planned to attend law school. She said she wanted to study family law, state law or criminal law, but was undecided.
