The Associated Students of Mesa Community College election season is here
The students of Mesa Community College will get to have their say in who they want to run their student government, the Associated Students of Mesa Community College (ASMCC), later this week.
From 8 a.m. on April 15 to 11:59 p.m. on April 16, students can cast their votes for who they want to win the elections while also representing the student body. There are seven candidates running for five positions between the Southern and Dobson campus and the Red Mountain campus, some running unopposed.
On April 8, there was a candidate forum where students could get to know those who are campaigning for executive positions. Logan Farmer, an ASMCC election coordinator and a former executive vice president for the organization, asked the candidates the initial questions before opening up the floor to students.
The forum made it clear that all candidates agree that communication between college administration and students, as well as ASMCC on both campuses, with students and each other, is a top priority.
President of the Southern and Dobson campus
There are two candidates running for the ASMCC President title.
The first is Mateo Valdez, a general business major with an emphasis in economics and a current ASMCC cabinet member. Valdez says he is running for president because he wants ASMCC to work more efficiently than the current administration by employing all the powers of the ASMCC government, such as creating resolutions and writing senate bills.
“I want to run for president because I was a cabinet member of ASMCC since October of last semester, and I realized that ASMCC has a lot of operational mechanisms that, with all due respect to the current administration, were not utilized as effectively as they should have been,” Valdez said.
When a student brought up the issue of MCC’s budget crisis and the impact it has on all students, clubs, and organizations, Valdez described the situation as “incredibly dreadful.” He then explained that he would like to focus on what ASMCC can control in response. Citing this semester’s success when it came to the budget to prove his point.
“I don’t believe there was one funding request that was denied, which is great. There was not and we still have leftover money in our budget,” he said. “There is a good way to be cost-effective, but again, I really just want to harp on the power that we have as students. It is so much greater than any of us really realize, including myself.” he continued.
When asked about representation for international students, Valdez explained that he would like to appoint an international student representative to help bring up issues international students may have.
Student power was a frequent point for Valdez throughout all his answers. He mentioned it again when asked about the protests that took place on campus earlier this semester and the safety concerns students have with the U.S. executive orders.
“Empowering students, I think, is a broad way to kind of solve this issue or at least bring awareness to the issue, bring visibility to the issue,” Valdez stated. “When it comes to public safety, it cannot be overstated that is a top priority should I be elected into office. That affects every student here, that affects every staff member here, so it is a top priority.”
Marlena Whitehair, an administrative justice major, who has been active on campus as the senator of the Inter-tribal Student Organization (ISO), member of the International Student Association (ISA) and Phi Theta Kappa Campus Event Coordinator, among others, is also running for ASMCC President. Her involvement is the reason she wants to run, so that she can support collaboration between campus groups and students.
“So the reason why I wanted to make sure that as students, we all have the opportunity to make it more accessible to collaborate with one another,” Whitehair said.
Her response to the question on how she would handle the budget crisis was turning to grants and the support of other campus and community groups, while also cutting down on costs by utilizing resources people already have.
“Knowing how to, where to look for grants, even just how to write grants that can be a source of revenue for clubs and for organizations to tap into, as well as asking our local community,” she said.
She used her experience when she helped raise awareness and money for skin cancer, and local businesses donated funds for students. She explained, “people care.”
When she was asked about international student representation, she plans to help people find their community in clubs such as ISA, and within the college itself.
“Having other opportunities for international students, not just ISA, but also others because there’s international students who can’t make the meetings or don’t even know that they have meetings,” she said. “Just fostering and building the sense of community and including that with people from campus to learn from each other, to support one another and make sure that we can understand each other because we’re all not that different.”
Whitehair frequently mentioned the importance of informing students of their rights. She explained many times that students have rights, and she plans to make them more known and fight for them if elected.
“It’s very sad to hear that not many students know all the power they have with the rights they can do,” Whitehair said.
This was very apparent when DEI changes were brought up by a concerned student.
“I just want to let you know that even if there is no student group GISA, that we still support you. We support your people, we support everyone who is in an official club or not. You are still seen, you are still heard, you are a part of the community as much as anyone else,” she said.
Executive Vice President of the Southern and Dobson campus
The two candidates running for ASMCC Executive Vice President are Gabriel Wilson and Celeste Whiterock.
Wilson, a construction management major, is running along with Valdez in hopes of giving students a stronger voice and being an example of leadership for young people’s voices.
“I’m running, like I said because Mateo asked me, and as I attended a few of the meetings I realized that I think there are a lot of things, like he said, that can be used to make the student voices more heard,” he said. “I want to help people feel represented and foster community.”
He sympathized with international students, as he has participated in student exchange programs in the past. He emphasized that he does not want the U.S. political climate to restrict students.
“I think making the available resources, reiterating that availability and helping to really work hard to foster safe spaces for those international students so that they can feel community, they can feel safe, they can feel not judged, they can feel welcome and like what they’re paying for and what they’re coming to do is with it,” Wilson stated.
As for the prior protests and safety concerns, Wilson agreed with Valdez on many points, the main one being the students’ right to protest. He emphasized the importance of organizing.
“We’ve had really big rallies around the country, so I think that’s something that should be looked at for students to participate in if they want to. There should be more organization going into that because it’s definitely something that will affect us on the ground. People will come and incite violence and yell at people and be really evil,” Wilson said. “So, we should ask students who feel comfortable around each other to take a stand against that and feel like we can actually do something about it.”
Whiterock is a secondary education major with an emphasis in history and a member of ISO. She is running for the position to stand for student advocacy.
“I want to make sure that all the clubs and students are able to have or can have the ability to collaborate, and also just to be an advocate for you guys,” Whiterock said.
She showed her student advocacy when the panel was asked about the DEI changes.
“With what we know now, because everything is student-led and because we have the first amendment right we should be fine, but if God forbid anything happened, we’re still going to stand with you,” she said. “I’m still going to advocate for Indigenous people, for LGBTQ people, for teachers, all these smaller communities, MEChA, ISA, ISO, all these groups. I just care for everyone, and I want everyone to do their best.”
Vice President of Operations
Jermel Gonzales-Byrd, a general business major, is running unopposed for the Vice President of Operations position.
He is running to promote communication for student clubs and events with the hopes of implementing his idea which he calls MCC10, a news outlet idea, similar to CNN10.
“The biggest thing I find to be a problem is the lack of communication for the student body. Yes, if you seek out information for clubs on the bench, you’ll find it, but if you don’t actively seek it, no one really chases you down unless you’re in a club already,” Gonzales-Byrd said. “So I want to try to implement something like CNN10, but for campus news.”
President of the Red Mountain campus
Sen Whittemore is running unopposed for the position of ASMCC President at the Red Mountain campus. This is the criminal justice major’s second time running, but he still feels strongly about his work and that with this time he can continue achieving his goals to better the campus clubs and organizations.
“I’m really passionate about the Red Mountain campus, and I want to work better with Southern and Dobson and Red Mountain to continue that communication between both campuses to achieve those goals,” he said.
He, along with many others during the forum, mentioned that ASMCC is open to everyone during their Tuesday meetings, and any student on both campuses may come in to raise a concern or give an idea.
Vice President of the Red Mountain campus
Running unopposed for ASMCC Vice President of the Red Mountain campus is Isabelle Neill, also running for reelection. She is majoring in counseling with an emphasis in applied psychological science.
Neill also wants to continue to be involved in the student government to foster community and make sure students continue to have a voice at the Red Mountain campus, alongside Whittemore.
“I also really want to be connected with the students. This last semester that’s what I think we did at Red Mountain very well, and made sure that clubs here were able to make their concerns known and work towards a better future,” she stated.
Student Voting
Farmer closed the forum, saying they had run out of time while pointing out that the forum had gone longer than expected. In an interview, he emphasized why he believes that every student should vote.
“I think it’s so important for students to vote because that lets us hear their voice and who they resonate with and what concerns and problems they see with the future and making sure that they elect people that address those concerns,” Farmer said.
Students can vote on Wednesday and Thursday in person at the Student Life building or online through the ASMCC website. Winners will be announced on Friday, April 18.
