ASCC hosted their annual election forum to bring awareness about student candidates on April 23 in the Campus Center Mall.
The candidates that arrived to take their place on the stage were Lilia Alvarez, Robert Fraijo, Matthew Contreras, Dustin Glover, Victor Ureno, Nancy Gonzalez, Uriah Lopez and Naty Soto.
Candidate Kim Ji Hoon arrived later to the forum.
Before anyone presented their platform on the stage, Alvarez, Gonzalez and Ureno quickly passed out flyers depicting the campaign efforts of each candidate.
Alvarez, Glover and Fraijo were campaigning with each other for president, vice president and student trustee respectively.
Ureno and Gonzales also campaigned as a team for president and student trustee, respectively.
In the forum, candidates had to answer to seven different questions prepared by forum moderator Amaryrani Ochoa, the Inter-Club Council adviser. However due to time constraints, the forum was opened to the audience earlier. Two questions were asked by the audience.
A small crowd gathered to listen to each candidate speak, including student veterans and members from cheer club. Around the 1 p.m. mark, more people stopped and listened to the candidates that spoke on the stage.
Gonzalez said that she would like to see more programs that can benefit students in underrepresented groups.
“I have been working alongside with Victor (Ureno), who is running for president … We have been working alongside with LUSA to try to implement a DACA center here on campus to provide those resources for those Dream students,” Gonzalez said.
Ureno continued onto Gonzalez’s point about resources and the need for information.
“That’s really what students need is resources to be able to accomplish their classes, to accomplish transferring out, to accomplish anything else they need to work on campus including internships, scholarship opportunities, grants, whatever it may be,” Ureno said. “It all begins with information, to be able to know where to access these resources and where you need to go.”
Glover said that he wanted a better working connection between the student organizations on campus.
“I’d like to see better communication between ASCC and ICC. ICC is kind of like the boots on the ground that have first contact with students, help direct student life,” Glover said.
Glover said that he also wanted to see the cheer club to become a sport team. Applause and cheers followed after Glover’s statement from the audience comprised of club members, cheer squad and veterans.
“At Citrus College, we have a great athletics department here,” Glover continued. “Our basketball team is fantastic. I don’t know how we can have a basketball team that almost goes to state, but don’t have an official cheer squad to cheer them on.”
Contreras also agreed with the implementation of the Dream center. As another goal, Contreras said, “I would like to implement a childcare center for the early childhood education, child development and single parents.”
When it was Fraijo’s turn to speak, he reiterated the importance of communication like his peers who spoke before.
“We need to better communicate with each other of what we have here to offer at Citrus College,” Fraijo said. “Some other projects that I was talking about with my fellow candidate Lilia (Alvarez) was a master plan of all of the events we have. Everything we do here is for students, not for us.”
Elections will be held from April 29 – May 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Students can vote online or at a designated booth in the Campus Center Mall. Link can be found on Citrus College’s website or Wingspan.
Was expecting a little more about EACH candidate’s platform, not just a few. Or at least the candidates that are running for President.
This article really missed a great opportunity to inform and encourage the students to be more aware of their student government.