By Noel Sanchez and Joseph Rodriguez, April 18, 2023
ASI election results were released Thursday, April 13. Students at Cal Poly Pomona are now able to view who will be representing them on the Board of Directors in Student Government.
President and Vice President positions came down to a tie. Due to this unusual occurrence, voting for both of those titles will be held once again to determine the winners.
CPP has eight colleges within its education system and ASI appoints Senators at the helm of each of them. This ensures every student attending the university has someone represents their needs and requests at a California State University level outside of any official staff members.
Lorelei Claxton and Wendy Obispo were announced first as the new Senators for the College of Education and Integrative Studies and the College of Business respectively. Both shed some light on their journeys to these positions and thanked everybody for the support along the way.
“We did it! We’re going to make big changes not just for the business students, but for everyone,” said Obispo.
The newest College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences Senator position was awarded to Marisa Martinez with Environmental Design going to Marsha Pranata. She stepped up to the stage and, just like every other winning candidate, thanked the audience for attending and for her voters believing in her abilities.
The College of Agriculture will have Jazmyn Mendoza-Rios representing them, while Ali Khaja will be taking on the role for the College of Science.
The College of Engineering will welcome Cade Wheeler as their new student senator. The third-year mechanical engineering student plans on helping his department thrive and increasing the ASI budget for engineering-focused organizations on campus.
Nicholas Lau received the position of senator for the Collins College of Hospitality Management, which aims toward advancing the field of hospitality management through innovation, applied research and service to the community. Lau, another third-year student at CPP plans to put an emphasis on events held on campus as well as banquets.
The Greek Council Senator position will have a re-election at a later date due to a no-confidence decision. A winner must be selected so a new poll will run over the next few days.
Many candidates were unable to attend the ceremony and despite nine senators being elected, only five were present to hear their names called and step up to the stage to give a few words.
Lau was among the winners in attendance and he expressed his excitement to be able to use his newfound role in the school to be able to present opportunities for his peers.
Lau also spoke about his motivation to pursue his senator position.
“I get to advocate and be the voice for not only my college, but all the students that attend Cal Poly Pomona,” said Lau. “It’s a great opportunity to advocate and promote the services we offer at our university such as mental wellness, sustainability and health in general.”
Just like Lau, many of the newly elected officials have plans to better the daily lives of students at Cal Poly Pomona and are grateful for the opportunity to give a positive impact on CPP. They also put into perspective the challenges students face and how that was a motivation for them to run for office.
Wheeler talked about the importance of student organizations and CPP’s engineering program.
“Cal Poly Pomona is such a great engineering school, and the nickname Cal Poly carries so much vigor with the motto ‘Learn By Doing,’” said Wheeler. “I want to emphasize that and really boost up our student-led organizations for engineering and make this school a better place.”
With the ASI president and vice president positions still undecided a run-off election will be held from April 24 through April 26. Students will be able to submit their votes again on the ASI website.
Feature image by Alexander Novoa
