UC Berkeley junior Sarah Bancroft announced her candidacy for the ASUC Senate as the eco-focused representative Monday.

Bancroft is the chief of staff of the office of ASUC Senator Sylvia Targ, the current eco-focused senator. Bancroft has several years of experience in the environmental community, with her work beginning when she joined Fossil Free Cal, a group that works toward supporting the UC system’s full divestment from fossil fuels, her freshman year. She went on to work in the climate action department of former ASUC Senator Anna Whitney in her sophomore year and is now involved in advocating for a UC Green New Deal and Cal Zero Waste.

“I think the representation is really key to uplifting all the work that is done in the environmental community,” Bancroft said. “I see myself as having the relevant experience and also being someone who knows my way around the environmental community to the point where I think I could be a good representative.”

Bancroft’s platforms focus on advocating for a UC Green New Deal, institutionalizing sustainability on campus and building a culture of holistic wellness in the environmental community.

Bancroft said the UC Green New Deal would be a “reimagining and transformation” of how the university works. She said she was inspired to focus on holistic wellness after seeing many of her peers in the environmental community dealing with “climate grief” and feeling burnt out.

Bancroft also plans to expand the sustainability course catalog and the environmental organization databases, continuing from her time in Targ’s office.

Targ said Bancroft knows what being an ASUC senator takes because she has seen firsthand how an office functions and what a senator’s commitments and work include. Targ also said Bancroft’s job as chief of staff included facilitating communication among various departments, which, for her, is one of the most challenging jobs in the office.

“I feel like she is extraordinarily well prepared to take on the role of senator inside of the ASUC. … She has gone through the hiring process of drafting out a mission statement and creating job descriptions and things like that,” Targ said. “She has basically done the entire experience watching me do it as my right-hand woman and I cannot think of, really, many other ways that she could be better prepared to take on the position next year having had all that experience.”

Leslie Wasserman, campus junior and friend of Bancroft, said she supports Bancroft’s candidacy because of the leadership and kindness she has shown.

Wasserman cited her work with Fossil Free Cal as an example, saying that Bancroft helped navigate the direction of the club.

“Her goals are really unique in that she knows that we’re in a really transformative time and is going to try to utilize that momentum and make things happen like the UC Green New Deal, all while supporting her fellow students,” Wasserman said.