Andrea Flores Edinburg– The Student Government Association held its Meet the Candidates event where students got to learn about their representation and future plans for the university community.
SGA Executive Tickets and senators running for the 2024-2025 session spoke to students about its initiatives.
Students will need to choose between two executive tickets:
Executive Ticket 1 consists of current president Odalys Saenz and vice presidents’ Juana Elena Jimenez and Gregorio Zuniga.
Executive Ticket 2, Vaquero Movement, consists of Noah Trstenjak, Mikaela Johnson and Alexis Uscanga Cadena.
Incumbent Saenz said some of her propositions for this term are creating a communication bridge to ensure students use SGA’s resources, an effort she hopes to continue working on.
“My motto is always ‘creating a stronger voice for the student body’ and it was this term and it’s going to be next term,” she said.
Executive Ticket 1 said they plan to focus on increasing all colleges’ participation in SGA and addressing the high prices in the Student Union Market.
Trstenjak does not hold any current position in SGA, but said he became interested in encouraging student participation in SGA.
“Neither of us knew what SGA was and that’s a big problem considering it’s supposed to be the voice for students,” he said. “Election participation is about 5% every year, even if election participation is low, people should know how to access the student government they have.”
Some propositions Executive Ticket 2 will tackle, if elected, are addressing what Johnson called the monopolization of study spaces in some buildings and increasing resources for the College of Liberal Arts.
SGA Adviser Kourtnie Hernandez said it is important for students to vote to choose the right representation for their college.
Students can cast a vote online for the executive team and senators from April 1 to 4. The ballots will be sent via students’ email.
