{"id":170481,"date":"2026-02-26T20:17:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170481\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T20:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:17:31","slug":"caio-esmeraldi-and-maria-julia-mussa-martins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170481\/","title":{"rendered":"Caio Esmeraldi and Maria Julia Mussa Martins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Presidential candidate Caio Esmeraldi to the left and his running mate, Maria Julia Mussa Martins, to the right. ORACLE PHOTO\/AUDREY KOCZANSKI<\/p>\n

For Caio Esmeraldi and Maria Julia Mussa Martins, their Student Government campaign is built on friendship and trust as much as it is on policy.<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi and Martins met at a party last year and later developed a close working relationship in SG \u2014 leading to their decision to run together for student body president and vice president, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi, a 21-year-old junior psychology major, currently serves as student body vice president. Martins, a 20-year-old sophomore double-majoring in psychology and international studies, serves as a Tampa senator and policy committee vice chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are like the brain and the heart when we work together,\u201d Martins said.<\/p>\n

They said their roles in SG have helped them better understand the limits and possibilities realistically available to them.<\/p>\n

Martins said this understanding of SG is important to running a campaign, as it shows they know what they are doing and will not have to learn from scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re running, sometimes people promise things that aren\u2019t possible,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need to understand what that position is capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi said their campaign slogan, \u201ca bolder USF,\u201d builds on his prior platform with current student body president Sumit Jadhav.<\/p>\n

The campaign focuses on three key ideas \u2014 better funding, better resources and stronger awareness of what SG does.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way, but there\u2019s still a long way to go,\u201d Esmeraldi said.<\/p>\n

Related: USF\u2019s new president wants to position USF as a \u201cmodel university\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi added that a major goal of their campaign is to help students better understand what SG does and how it impacts campus life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you care about your student experience even a little, it\u2019s important that you care about voting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the long hours that come with campaigning and SG work, both candidates said their motivation remains the same \u2014 serving students and making a positive impact on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot in student government,\u201d Esmeraldi said. \u201cBut we chose to do this again because we know we can bring positive change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with their experience in SG, both candidates also share another commonality \u2014 their journey to USF began far from campus.<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi said he grew up in Brazil and moved to the U.S. when he was 14. He attended high school in Celebration, Florida, and transferred to USF from the University of Central Florida last spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely didn\u2019t feel like I was at home [at UCF],\u201d Esmeraldi said. \u201cSo I wanted to try something different and found USF here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martins, who also grew up in Brazil, moved to the U.S. at 15, living in Pittsburgh and upstate New York before moving to Florida for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my friends came to USF, and I visited her,\u201d Martins said. \u201cI absolutely fell in love. Everyone on campus was super nice, and there was a huge Brazilian community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF students fear loss of Latin American and Caribbean Scholarship after statewide repeal<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi said he initially joined SG to build a community at USF after transferring from UCF.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent government, as high stakes as it can feel sometimes, still boils down to building community and finding people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Esmeraldi\u2019s connection to SG extends to his family. His older brother, Cesar Esmeraldi<\/a>, served as student body president during the 2023-2024 academic year.<\/p>\n

Martins said her involvement in SG started with a \u201clong-standing interest\u201d in representing students \u2014 something she first experienced in high school student council.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to represent the people around me and be their voice,\u201d Martins said. \u201cA lot of my friends didn\u2019t even know what student government was or what resources it offered.\u201d<\/p>\n

That shared interest in listening to students is something both candidates said defines how they work together and why they ultimately decided to run on the same ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made sense that I would want to do it with someone that I trust and that I\u2019m very close friends with,\u201d Esmeraldi said. \u201cI have a lot of faith that she can do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two students, who have been in SG for roughly a year, said their experiences have shaped how they approach leadership \u2014\u00a0rooted in collaboration, transparency and accessibility.<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi and Martins said this method has deepened their understanding of student needs while helping them develop into more proactive, solution-oriented leaders.<\/p>\n

But beyond leadership and goals, the candidates said their personalities and strengths work hand in hand \u2014 with Martin leading outreach and connection, and Esmeraldi heading policy and internal operations.<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi said Martins is decisive and strong in communicating her ideas while still remaining open to other perspectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019ll explain her opinion until people understand,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s something a lot of people lack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martins said Esmeraldi\u2019s patience and dedication stand out to her as a leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined SG, he spent a lot of time explaining the statutes and documents to me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe would explain everything with so much calm and patience. I think that\u2019s really important in a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: USF Student Government gubernatorial candidates discuss budget allocation<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Esmeraldi and Martins said they are a \u201cdynamic duo,\u201d adding that their friendly chemistry keeps them grounded while campaigning.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019m nervous about things, and he tells me it\u2019s going to be fine, and when he\u2019s freaking out, I tell him the same thing,\u201d Martins said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For them, the campaign is not just about winning \u2014 it is about continuing to improve the USF community and carrying their passion through the student body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this together, and we\u2019re doing it for the right reason,\u201d Esmeraldi said.<\/p>\n

Martins said the ticket has been working to connect with students around campus, and added that they hope students view their ticket as peers who share the goal of fostering a better USF community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see us on campus, stop and talk to us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing this out of passion, and we want to listen to the students we\u2019re serving.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article is part of a \u201cMeet the Candidates\u201d series for all tickets running in the presidential election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other tickets running in the race are:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunter Rabinowitz (student body president) and Mia Riley (student body vice president)
\nDavid Zahn (student body president) and Titan Sanchez (student body vice president)
\nTyler Williams (student body president) and Haran Mahesh (student body vice president)
\nMuhammad Kamil (student body president) and Linda Kahok (student body vice president)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Presidential candidate Caio Esmeraldi to the left and his running mate, Maria Julia Mussa Martins, to the right.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-170481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}