Kirstyn Smith elected new ASO President

Kirstyn Smith was elected ASO President and Rudolph Villegas Student Trustee by voters in the 2017 student elections.

Smith becomes the first African-American woman ASO president in school history and will replace the outgoing Mona Dibas on June 1. Smith said she wants to continue contributing to the college and create a space for students of all backgrounds to feel comfortable and confident sharing their ideas.

Villegas will replace Freda Hernandez, who served as the first SWC Student Trustee after the position was split off from the presidency last year. He is a senator-at-large, a member of the Shared Consultation Counsel, and the Education Planning and Enrollment Committee. 

Jose Gutierrez claimed a narrow 26-vote win over Alvin Cook for ASO Executive Vice President. In June Gutierrez will enter his third year of service to the ASO. He said goals include creating better services and benefits as well as sexual abuse awareness and prevention.

Four students ran unopposed for executive positions. They are Social Vice President Marissa Eguiza, Vice President of Club Affairs Omar Aceves, Executive Secretary Andreana Noemi Vazquez and Vice President of Finance Cynthia San Pedro.

Hanan Ali was declared the Vice President of Outreach after her opponent, Emily Faith Romero, was disqualified due to social media campaign violations.

Vice President of Public Relations is vacant after the only candidate, Mayrene Cervantes, was disqualified for failing to submit candidate financial statements.

Senate seats were won by Monique Fernandez, Ana Mariela Salinas, Mariana Silva-Gomez, Jorge Ivan Ortiz, Pedro Alejandro Miranda, Jesus Rojas Vemzar, John Mojica, Kamilah Haynes and Torrie Christopher. 

Smith, currently president of The Exponential Learning Academy (TELA) program and  a senator-at-large, said she hopes to build on the success of Dibas.

“I wanted to continue what (Mona) has started,” Smith said. “I want us to keep pushing and fighting the way Mona was.”

At 18, Smith will be the youngest ever student body president in just her third semester at SWC. She is a Olympian High School graduate and an accounting major.

“I’m very outgoing and involved even since high school when I was in ASB,” Smith said, “I came here to SWC knowing nobody. I did have a friend at TELA, so I joined her and I learned a lot about the things going on at school. I thought about joining the ASO to get to know people better as well as the campus. I though it was going to be just like high school, but it was totally different.”

Smith spent her first year at SWC as an ASO Senator at Large for the business and technology department.

“Me being a person of color, I feel that at this campus, we (African-Americans) are out there, but we are not represented as well as we can be,” Smith said. “I feel like me being a senator right now, my voice as a senator and as a person of color is not out there as much as I want it to be.”

Smith said she had doubts about throwing her hat into the ring.

“I was really scared to run for President, but I felt like the ASO needed a big change in regards to diversity,” Smith said. “I wanted to fight for diversity and show that we have a voice as well.”

Student trustee-elect Villegas, 27, said he felt the time was right to make the step up and represent the student body.

“Coming back to school last year I felt that I would be of service to the student body, but not necessarily running for the top position right away because I was out of touch with some of the issues,” he said. “So now having served in the Senate for a year, that’s when I felt more confident in serving for student trustee.”

Villegas said communication would be key for the incoming administration.

“It is important for the student trustee to have an understanding of the needs of the student body,” he said.

One year after the ASO split the positions of president and student trustee, Villegas said he hopes he can overcome problems that arose last year.

“Because the split is new, we have had an issue with the communication between those two roles,” he said. “Because of that, I felt with my previous experience and my personability, that I would be able to break those barriers.”

Student trustee has an advisory vote on the governing board. Villegas said it is very valuable.

“It is important for me to incite discussion, first and foremost,” he said. “While I will sit there and have no power vote, I feel the biggest boon of the position itself is criticism, or agreement. It is the student voice that is asking questions.”

Villegas said he would implore students to be active in the community and not leave everything up to those serving in office.

“For whatever plans I have, and for whatever plans the student government has, we can’t do it alone,” he said. “ I want to communicate to the students that we are welcome, not only for their concerns, but to have them help us because we need to have more students involved.”