Associated Students have covered a lot in the past week. After heading off to our nation’s capital the morning of March 13, they participated with student governments from all around country, who also attended the 30th Annual National Student Advocacy Conference.

The conference lasted all day Saturday and Sunday tackling issues of the Pell Grant, DREAM Act, minimum wage increase, and Student & Family Tax Simplification Act, their hopes to help Ventura County Community Colleges and colleges all around the nation is an ambitious agenda they covered in a short amount of time.

“Pell Grants are a big deal in supplementing a higher education for community college and university students who are earning their degrees of higher education,” said Associated Students Advisor Sharon Miller. “Almost every student you survey in the state of California is on some form of Pell Grant.”

Currently 2,460 Moorpark College students are supported by the Pell Grant, with the Fall 2013 Pell Grants totaling to approximately $4.8 million.

The conference covering these topics had concurrent workshops that are supposed help teach student governments how to take their message to Congress and how to best represent their student government.

On Monday, Associated Students took their message to Capitol Hill where they expressed their concerns to Congresswoman Julia Brownley, and Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

For the past 14 years, Moorpark College’s Student government has lobbied to make a difference and better our school for all students.

During the interview before their leave, Miller mentioned the new additions of memorials and statues added to D.C., one being Martin Luther King Jr’s., with the inspirational line “out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” While Moorpark College is anything but a mountain of despair, Associated Students strives to lift us up from any hard times that we may encounter and continue to uphold the excellence of this school.

Currently in D.C., Associated Students updated Student Voice on what they really accomplished at the conference.

“We found that a lot of community college’s face the same problems we do: students don’t know Student Government exists and that we are there to help them,” said Vice President of Associated Students, Erin Nosco. “Although our term is ending in a few months, hopefully we can help the next group who is interested in improving campus life.”

Appointment with the Senators and Congresswomen on topics such as the Pell Grant open eyes to the AS directors.

“I liked the one-on-one talk with the staff at the representative’s office,” said Director of Student Organizations, Victoria Zolfaghari. “We weren’t just talking to the staff, but it seemed like we were really representing the students at Moorpark College all the way on the other side of the country at the Capitol.”

However, fighting for students’ needs isn’t always as easy when talking to big politicians.

“At first we as a board were pretty nervous to be advocating on behalf of students on matters like the Pell Grant,” Said Student Services Director, Melvin Kim. “But fortunately, all of our representatives are big supporters of higher education.”

After Associated Students’ successful journey east, they brought back with them a profound will and an invigorated conviction to set the future chair-holders of student government in the right direction.