By Q: What do you plan to do after you graduate?
A: Eventually I’ll be going to graduate school, but I’m not sure if I’ll be taking a year off or if I’ll go straight into grad school. Ultimately, I’d like to do something in the art world. I want to take the experiences that I’m doing here — business relations, communications, and things like that — and mix them with my art background to see if I can have a career that way.
Q: Why did you choose to run for the student government?
A: I was in student government at my community college for three years, and I actually got into it by accident. When I came here, I ran into someone at meeting who’d heard that I was an art major. He turned to me and said, “Oh. You should run for senator for College of the Arts.” He didn’t know me at all, and then, this last year, being a senator was a completely different experience from any of the student government experience I’d had prior. I wanted to expand my experience beyond the arts and do something a little bit bigger and better. Running for president was something a lot of people had encouraged me to do, and I just wanted to branch out; to do it a little bit differently.
Q: Last year’s election was very close. How did you feel running in that election?
A: The election was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard for one thing in such a short amount of time, and I’ve never been so busy or so tired. It was a great experience, really rewarding. I had to go outside of my comfort zone completely. I’m not a huge public speaker, which is an odd thing for me to say as president, but I’ve never met so many people in my whole life. It was just unbelievable the amount of things I had to do. It was difficult to sort of keep it civil and not take things personally, but I think we did a really good job of that.
Q: What are you doing right now to improve the way the student government works?
A: I’m trying to find ways to let people know about ASI and what it does. I’m trying to put together a newsletter to be sent to all students, telling them where their money’s going, what services are offered to them, how they can get involved, things like that. And as far as recruitment and involvement, I’m trying to make it so that kind of stuff is going on all the time and students know about it, and people are bringing in students from outside of ASI and not just the same people all the time. I want to have mechanisms for the transitions to be done better because I don’t really think that happens now and that people are sort of reinventing the wheel each year.
Q: What one change would you most like to see within ASI?
A: I think I’d like people to, once they’re in and once elections are over, be willing to work together for the greater good and leave the politics out of it. Politics are sort of inherent when you’re talking about student government. I think that, at the same level, you should be most worried about what you’re doing for the school.
Q: President Alexander has said that he wants to dispel the attitude that CSULB is a commuter school. What are you doing to increase school spirit and keep people on campus?
A: Right now I think getting as many students involved as possible is a big thing, making sure that our student voice is heard on campus so that all the things that come with a commuter school that people don’t like have sort of been rid of. We’re trying to get more students involved at games, reinstalling the Beach Pride Tuesdays – but making it something that’s institutionalized. I think that, outside of just the idea of Beach Pride, if students are really happy with what’s going on at their school and the services that are being offered to them, then they’ll be happier and more likely to stick around. We’re also pushing to educate students about the rec center, which is going to be voted on, I believe, in the spring.
Q: Do you support putting a rec center on campus?
A: I personally would love seeing a rec center on campus. I don’t want to see the rec center built if students don’t vote for it to be built, so, if it goes to referendum and it’s decided that students aren’t ready for it right now, then we just need to wait. I was actually horrified to find out when I got here that we didn’t have a rec center, so I would love to see it.
Q: What do you think about the possibility of building on Puvungna?
A: I’m completely against it, and I think, whether or not people think it’s a burial ground and whether or not all the rest of the community’s been built on, at this point it’s one space that’s sacred to a lot of people. Just because it doesn’t fit into ideas of what sacred ground is or what a burial ground or gravesite should look like doesn’t matter because to this one community it’s very important. I think there are other options that need to be looked into and pushed.
Q: If you could trade places with anyone on campus, who would you choose?
A: One of the dancers, one of the dance majors. That’s what I always wanted to do, and I miss dancing. I don’t think I want any more responsibility than I have now, so it wouldn’t be anyone in administration or anything like that.
Q: And what are your hobbies when you’re not in the ASI office?
A: Well, art is one of them. That’s my major, so I can’t call it a hobby anymore because that’s sort of my life path. I danced my whole life, on and off, and I don’t do it anymore and I really miss it. I’m a cheeseball. I like bowling and I like miniature golf. I love reading. I don’t really have any hobbies right now. I don’t do anything. I go to sleep.
Q: Is there anything you would like students to know about what you do as president?
A: As far as what I’m working on, campus security is my number one priority right now. I’m really, really trying to advocate for students in all the boards I’m on. I think the one thing I was really surprised by this year was how loudly my voice was heard on all the committees on campus. I’m in there with administration, faculty and staff, and they actually listen to students and hear what we have to say. They’ve implemented some of the things that I’ve brought to the table that students have told me, so I think that’s been probably the best thing all year. I guess I’d want them to know that I’m always here. I love students to know who I am and know that they can talk to me or come to the office and talk to anybody here. If they ever have any problems, we’re sort of a starting point for them.
