On Friday, Aug. 30, the Associated Student Government (ASG) held their first board meeting for the fall semester. This semester’s current ASG President, Sophia Kofoed, started the meeting with a motion to take a leave of absence until Oct. 1 due to a concussion she sustained over the summer. 

The board passed this motion approving Kofoed to resume her position after her leave. Vice President of Internal Affairs, Raquel Smith, will be taking over the position immediately. 

“I am very excited to get the ball rolling and take over for Sophia while she takes the time she needs to recover,” Smith said.

The board received news that City Colleges’s cafeterias now accept Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) as of last week. This was positive news for the ASG after their committee’s advocacy for EBT last school year.

EBT allows both federal and state governments to supply low income individuals with access to fresh food. EBT cards are accepted at gas stations, restaurants, and grocery stores that participate in the system.

“It was a long process, but we were able to talk about it with a lot of campus leaders and we presented on it,” Kofoed said. “It was coming from us originally and it happened. I am so proud of everyone.” 

The ASG continued to reflect on some of their projects from last year, with one event being the City College Olympics. ASG held this event during the spring semester last year, but received low student turnout. 

“I definitely think we should consider the Olympics,” Kofoed said. “If we consider it, we have to make some changes. We have to make it really easy for people to just jump in because having people sign up before is too much for college students sometimes.”

The board also discussed the option to recruit student volunteers for the Alzheimer’s Walk again this year. The ASG mentioned the success of the previous event as well as their enjoyment when planning and participating.

“I’d love to be involved in that again,” Student Advocate Yonatan Libman, said. “I thought it was really fun last year to help out with that [and] I think it was a good turnout, so it would be really cool to do it again.”

The ASG discussed the prospect of a voter registration event on Constitution Day which is Sept. 17. While there is yet to be a concrete plan for the event, all current members of the board acknowledged that the ASG should promote voter registration for students. 

“This election is so important and student voices are so important in our elections,” Kofoed said. “There has traditionally been such a low voter turnout for students so it’s important that we try to get our SBCC students involved and voting in this election.”

Other events including a cultural celebration day and a sustainability fair were also considered as options for the upcoming year, because of the outreach they brought last year. The decision on which exact events will be held by the ASG this year is not yet set in stone, but will be discussed in upcoming meetings with a more fully staffed board.

The board’s next meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6.