New members of Associated Students were elected for the 2018-2019 academic year on April 19.
Newly elected president of Associated Students Andrew Lopez is eager to lead and explore new ways to bring the campus together.
“I think I do have the passion to lead this board,” said Lopez. “We have a huge budget to work with and a lot of opportunities, and I’m really excited.”
Elections were held on April 17 and 18. There were 24 candidates who ran this year, making this election cycle especially competitive. The goal of the new board is to be the voice of students in the Moorpark College community and help make a difference. Lopez hopes to build a community environment on campus.
“My first goal is to bridge the gap between what students know about on campus, and what’s actually going on,” said Lopez. “There’s not a very good centralized way of getting information to students.”
Lopez believes all the flyers on campus are a tough way to communicate because there is simply too many of them spread around.
“There’s a website that was made last year called Raiders Connect,” said Lopez. “We have to get that up and running, to make a nice, easy, formatted website where students can sort through events.”
Lopez has leadership experience from starting his own student organization this year called College Democrats.
“I got to know the board a little bit and got to know how student government works,” said Lopez. “I’ve been politically inclined for a long time, so I kind of have the skills that I need down.”
Newly elected Vice President, Shida Delgosha, hopes to communicate with professors about how to ease the stress of students throughout the year.
“A lot of students [go] out of their way to come to us and do our activities on campus,” said Delgosha. “It would be easier if we provided some of those activities in classrooms since students will be there anyway.”
Ashley Avakian, the newly elected director of Academic Affairs, hopes to reach out to students and learn what they want out of their experience at school.
“I will get in touch with Moorpark students to understand what things they like about their experience at Moorpark, and what they feel can be improved on an academic and social level,” said Avakian. “I also want to encourage students to learn and try new things, which I aim to accomplish by planning more field trips.”
Student government is new to Avakian, but she has always had an inclination to join. Avakian hopes to form a bond with her newly elected board members.
“I am most looking forward to becoming close with the other Associated Student members,” said Avakian. “I was involved in a lot of activities in high school and really appreciated the team and group bond I formed with them, and I’d love to do the same with my Associated Student peers.”
Associated Students Board of Directors 2018-2019
President:
Andrew Lopez
Vice President:
Shida Delgosha
Director of Academic Affairs:
Ashley Avakian
Director of Budget & Finance:
Rahyen Heilmann
Director of Campus Events:
Sonali Murugan
Director of Constitution & Rules:
Jeanette Ralph
Director of External Affairs:
Tessa Azani
Director of Public Relations:
Devika Bedi
Director of Student Organizations:
Andres Ramirez Galeano
Director of Student Services & Sustainability
Cassandra Cardoza
VCCCD Student Trustee
Connor Kubeisy
