Five new members were welcomed into the Associated Student Government this Friday, bringing in new ideas for the fall semester.
New senators Josh Villanueva, Gabriela Sole, Angela Liu, Jonathan Rodriguez and Jesse Evans make the senate a full 18 members for the upcoming school year. The senators come from different backgrounds but all said to have a common goal, helping the students.
“I am a third year here,” said Senator Evans. “I’ve been here for so long I know the campus and I know how it works.”
After a lengthy interview process during the student senate meeting, it became apparent that many of the new senators had experience in leadership. Moreno, who served on the student senate last semester and had to reapply after a GPA mishap, has had various roles in management.
“I used to be the assistant manager at the Buzz Shack,” he said. “When I first started at Jack and the Box, I moved up to assistant manager pretty quickly.”
Between a job, school, senate meetings and committees, Moreno would like to donate an additional six hours of his time every week towards helping the school.
But he is not the only one who has ideas for improving the campus. Newly elected Senator Liu would like to make some changes to book requirements for classes.
“I’ve seen quite a few problems going on in classrooms,” she said. “Such as having to buy expensive textbooks that we don’t even use often.”
The new senator would like to offer free e-textbooks to students who receive high academic marks.
Liu also hopes to change the way students communicate with the teachers. She has proposed that students evaluate teachers before the midterm instead of after the final. This way students can give feedback to the instructor on whether their teaching tactics are effective to the class before it’s over, she explained.
Rodriguez, a first generation college student from San Diego, feels like he is ready to bridge the gap between senators and students.
“I feel like we can work on the communication between senators and students,” he said. “When I was getting a bunch of signatures, a lot of the students didn’t know we had a student senate.”
Rodriguez would like to start handing out pamphlets and setting up tables on West Campus for meet and greets. He said he would also like to set up a mentorship at the college for students who may be struggling academically or personally.
“A lot of minority students aren’t transferring or succeeding here,” Rodriguez explained. “The mentorship program can really help these students get integrated and comfortable in the school environment.”
He would like to work with the Extended Opportunity Program and Services , a program for students who may be at a disadvantage.
All old and new senators will be working towards making the student senate more available to students this semester.
“I just hope I can bring as many changes into the classrooms as possible,” Liu said.
[Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Josh Moreno was elected, not Josh Villanueva]
