President, Henoch Perez
As president, what’s your vision for ASCC this year?
“In one word, connection. People have the ability to connect and form bonds. So (we are) building up on the idea of community and fair representation, or everyone in the group has the mindset that everyone’s voice is important and everyone needs to be heard. Specifically, how does that look like, I want students to be better informed about what’s happening around campus and do what we can on our end to provide the best experiences with the budget we have in creating events that students can vibe with, and they’ll feel proud of that they will be Citrus alumni and that they’ll look back at their time here.”
Vice President, Manuel Fernando Zepeda
How do you think ASCC makes students’ lives better on campus?
“Awareness is one major thing here. I also think that students here need to be heard. I think there are some situations that students want to change and (need) better ways to support that and give that message to the higher-ups and find a way to convince them in a way to make that change.”
Student Trustee, AJ Hernandez
What does being a student trustee mean for you personally?
“For me personally, being a trustee is serving others and helping the students here at Citrus and hearing what they need and being their voice.”
Treasurer, Jason Avendano
What do you hope to accomplish this year in your role?
“This year, in my role, I hope to manage ASCC funds in the most efficient way possible. That way, we have the money to host the events we would like to host.”
Legislative Liaison, Victoria Mucha
What motivated you to join the student government?
“Change. There’s so many things I just see and want in students, and you kind of hear what people want as a student, and you know what you want as a change as a student. There’s a way to make that happen, and student government is a way of representation, and I thought that would be a great way to actually take initiative in action.”
Senator, Harper Xie
Are there particular student groups or initiatives you want to support?
“I want to support mainly the mental health students (students in need of mental health resources) because I know they suffer from pressure outside of school and school work and family-wise. I also heard from international students talking about how they feel more lonely or sad because their parents are not able to come in the same space as them, so I hope we can provide great health resources for them. I know we have a health center, but not many people acknowledge it. It’s a problem that we should introduce to more students so that they know there is a tool for them to help cope with their mental health.”
Senator, Marquel-Leslie Flores
What do you hope students know about the role of a senator?
“We do have four other senators and being a senator may not feel as much, cause we have commissioners but it’s such an important role, cause we get such a balanced representation with the three others we have. It’s something that lets students be heard cause we all go to school, we all are in a class but getting to know our peers and getting to know what they go through and what they’re dealing with and lets us bring that to our meetings, and I’ve realized more and more that I engage with classes and talk to teachers. I’ve been able to bring that to our meetings, so the senator honestly is another student’s voice being heard but definitely having that leadership and bringing action to it.”
Senator, Miho Obata
Are there specific issues or projects you’re passionate about working on?
“Yes, the issue that I’m passionate about is that I’m an international student and since I came here, I feel there isn’t really any international aid for an international student, so we need to pay much more tuition than (a) student from here, so I’m pretty sure for many international students it’s a big concern, so I want to work on that.”
Senator Patty Flores
How has this role influenced your personal or career goals?
“It just overall made me a well-rounded person. It’s helped me become more of a leader. It helped me take charge better. It allowed me to be in the room and be the first one to stand up and say this is what’s right. It’s given me courage and it’s really just helped me all around.”
Commissioner of Activities, Siqi Pan
Headshot not available at the time of publication.
What motivated you to join the student government?
“I am a Chinese student and I want to represent Chinese culture. I also wanted to contribute to our school campus and put interesting things in student lives.”
Commissioner of Athletics, Mikayla Munoz
How do you approach planning events that appeal to a wide range of students?
“Definitely community outreach. You need to know what the different groups on campus are. There is such a wide range of students and so many different personalities and so many different views. So word of mouth is very important, like communication, just talking to people or kind of attending different events and activities hosted by those clubs and different groups of people. That’s also how you kind of get to know everyone on campus and then using that information and that little analysis of everyone, you can create different events and create things that everyone would enjoy and bond with.”
Commissioner at Large, Jonathan Johnson
How do you plan to make your role in ASCC successful?
“Just advocate for the students, be someone who doesn’t just listen to the problem and does my best to help with the problem and anything that’s an issue on campus, do my best to help out there. Also, I plan on just helping out my ASCC members. If there are any issues or anything like that, I just want to make sure that we are a strong team. We can work together, we can rely on each other and we know that if for whatever reason, something doesn’t get done, it wasn’t because someone didn’t put the effort in and they did everything they could and just make sure that’s the type of team we are.”
Commissioner at Large, Nicolas Estey
Headshot not available at the time of publication.
How do you think this experience will help you in your career or life after college?
“I think this experience will help me kind of be more cautious of issues that don’t directly affect me. And aside from that, it will teach me to properly represent myself and as well as other people, in a way that truly matters and that’s truly effective for them and not just what looks good on paper.”
Commissioner of Inter Club Council, Ayme Ortiz-Ramirez
What goal do you have set for the Inter Club Council this year?
“The goal is to get everybody on the same page, get involved in student life. Which I feel that students who are involved in student clubs are already putting themselves out there to be part of student life, which is a really good thing for us.”
Commissioner of Public Relations, Jayson Chan
What’s your strategy for keeping students informed about ASCC’s work?
“I’m really trying to focus on utilizing our Instagram more because I feel like last year the Citrus ASCC Instagram wasn’t really active as much as it should’ve been, and it wasn’t really promoting the events it should have been promoting.”
Editors Note: Quotes from Henoch Perez, Victoria Mucha, Marquel-Leslie Flores, Mikayla Munoz, Jonathan Johnson and Siqi Pan were lightly edited for grammar and clarity. No meaning was changed. Editor-in-Chief Angela Hernandez is the sister of Student Trustee AJ Hernandez. President Henoch Perez is also enrolled in the Clarion freelance journalism class.
