For most colleges, the month of April to students means spring break. Finals are near and the school year is almost over, which means campaigns for the succeeding student government body have begun.
On April 19, LPC Student Government held a candidate forum in the room 2420 lecture hall.The event, hosted by LPCSG, allowed candidates to present themselves and explain why they may be fit for the roles they applied for.
The elections are for a variety of key positions in LPCSG, including Vice President, Director of Communication, Student Trustee, Director of Communications, Director of Programs and Services and Director of Finance. Sixteen returning students applied to be potential members of the 2023-24 student government body.
This semester, 16 students have joined the government in appointed positions, meaning they were not elected in the 2022 spring elections. The appointed include, Ayaan Ahmad, Omar Au, Aiden Baker, Joanna Chiu, Mehrsa Gholikhamseh, Hassieb Hassieb, Britney Hernandez, Yuna Karpelevitch, Lena Munad, Diego Perez, Brody Price, Jai Puli, Nada Raafat Ibrahim, Armina Rahman, Shreshth Sarin and Alexa Sumitra.
“We’ve already had two people withdraw from their positions, so this is the first time we’ve had a lot of the candidates here,” Student Life and Leadership Program Coordinator Josue Hernandez said.
Resignation among student government members has been an issue for the ongoing school year. At the beginning of last fall, there were only four students in the government. Michel Ebeli, the former ICC director, and Sangavi Suresh, the former director of Programs and Services, have since resigned.
In attendance were only Hernandez, current president Lara Wiedemeier, director of legislation Fernando Torres and 13 of the 16 LPCSG candidates.
“As a student trustee, I hope to create more events, engage with students and kind of create an environment that’s more welcoming for students, so they are more willing to come onto campus instead of just taking online classes,” Omar Au said.
Au is running for Student Trustee, a position Chabot and LPC students can vote for. Au is currently serving as a Senator.
Bettering the student experience on campus was often brought up from a few of the candidates, including Au. Engagement with students and returning life to LPC post-pandemic was a common campaign foundation for the candidates.
There are other familiar faces like Au running in the election.
Lena Munad, current appointed director of communication, is running for president, vice president or her same position. Munad is focused on bettering the social environment and transfer resources.
“I aim to enhance campus life, bring more joy, happiness, socializing and bring everyone together, as COVID had a huge impact on the social life of students. I also need to address the lack of transfer resources as they are put out there, but a lot of students are not connected to them. I aim to connect students to transfer resources and allow them to get better and transfer to higher education more successfully,” Munad said.
Current appointed director of finances Brody Price is running for president, vice president and student trustee. The recurring theme of the candidates about student life and interaction is a key goal for Price’s campaign.
“My agenda for student government next year would be to really build the community, get more students involved and really better student life. Right now, many students don’t even know we have things like clubs, events, and like the Mini Market where students interact. My goal would also be to have a minimum number of events, like at least one per month, and add onto things like the Mini Market and make it a more sociable area for students. I would also try to work with the ICC to advertise clubs more and get them out there,” Price said.
LPCSG’s current director of events Mehrsa Gholikhamseh is running to keep her position, but also intends to run for director of Inter-Club Council (ICC) and director of legislation.
“My agenda is to represent the students’ interests and needs at Las Positas. I have been here for two years and I feel like I have a lot of experience that can contribute. One way I will achieve this is by organizing events to promote student engagement and address any concerns that they might have with LPC. One of my priorities is to create a meeting or workshop or an event where students can come and talk with student government representatives or the administration if they have any concerns, any feedback and to share ideas,” Gholikhamseh said.
Amira Rahman is running for vice president, director of events and to extend her time in her current position as director of ICC.
“This semester, we actually had a successful club fair and I would like to have events like that in the future,” Rahman said.
Ahmad is one of the new inexperienced candidates who decided to run for a position in LPCSG. Ahmad is running for director of finance, director of communication, director of events, student trustee, and the vacant director of programs and services.
“I feel there’s a bit of miscommunication between everybody and one of my main ideas is to make it easier for everybody to connect with each other, to make friends and hang out and study. I’ll have a decent amount of time to commit to student government,” Ahmad said.
Aiden Baker is a returning student running for the director of communication, director of events and vice president. Baker is pushing for transparency about where students’ money goes.
“We spend like $1,000 each semester at Las Positas for classes. I’m hoping to make it more known what that money goes towards whether it’s for clubs, events, and whatnot,” Baker said.
Britney Hernandez is running for student trustee, director of programs and services and director of events. Hernandez’s focus is building connections between all LPC students.
“I think it’s really important for people to really get to know me and all who are representing them. Personally, I didn’t really know that we had a position like this where someone would speak on behalf of me at meetings like this, where other topics are talked about,” Hernandez said.
I’ve already reached out to a lot of clubs on campus, to really get to know students and introduce myself to them…I’m aware there are some people who are still learning the English language. My ability to speak Spanish will help reach out to them, present their opinions and give them a voice to advocate for all needs.”
Yuna Karpelevich is running for president, director of communication and director of events. Karpelevich’s agenda is focused on listening to students about the campus and bringing more representation for everyone.
“I aim to take what students have to say, their feedback about the campus about what could be made better and use it to improve the Las Positas experience in ways that everyone wants. I’ve heard many students say that one gender neutral bathroom is just not enough for a campus as big as ours. That’s why I aim to improve this,” Karpelevich said.
Jai Puli is running for president, student trustee and director of legislation. Puli’s intentions are to connect LPC to other colleges and bring more engagement through planned events.
“The main goal of most students that go to LPC is obviously to transfer, right? So through the director of legislation, president, and potentially trustee, I plan to communicate a bit more with these colleges, have them bring down speakers or just co-host events that could help our students get a better feel for their colleges,” Puli said.
Nada Raafat Ibrahim is running for student trustee, director of finance and vice president. Ibrahim applied to run for these positions as a first-generation student because she’s had a good welcoming experience at LPC and wants to provide the same for fellow students.
“I felt a big sense of community once I came here. I felt there were so many resources for me and I really want to provide that same type of help, the same type of comfort with other students in that position. I think that as a trustee, it’s so important to not only think of yourself but the amount of people you’re going to be representing…I really think it’s important to bridge the gap and build a big community on campus for all of us,” Ibrahim said.
Shreshth Sarin is running for director of ICC, director of events and vice president. Sarin is an international student and with that experience, he could help international students transition to their new life.
“I chose the positions where I feel like I will represent the international student body and make it a very seamless transition for them. Clubs are a really important factor that can make it very easy for lots of students to communicate with others and get used to the community,” Sarin said.
If a candidate wins the election for multiple positions, they can only choose one of the positions. The runner-ups for the other officer positions will take their place.
According to the LPCSG Officer Elections page, public voting will be online from April 23 at 8 p.m. to April 27 at 5 p.m. The results will be verified and announced at the last scheduled LPCSG senate meeting of the current academic year on April 28.
As most candidates have never been in student government before, inexperience may be an issue in the next school year.
Gibran Beydoun is a freelance writer for the Express. Follow him @Gibran580MSCM.
