The 2019-2020 Associated Students Inc. (ASI) Board of Directors Elections results are in.

Congratulation to the winners, Maria S. Marquez (65.74%),  ASI President, Michelle Nungaray (57.18%), ASI Vice President, Eboni Boone (100%), Director,  Athletics, Gloria Vallin (100%), Director, Diversity, Karmjit Bath (41.55%), Director, At Large, Cynella Aghasi (82.49%), Director, Environment, Andrea Sandoval (100%), Director, Residential Life, Natalia Verduzco (72.72%), Director, Student Clubs and Organizations, Diana Avalos (100%), Director, Graduate Students, Yu Fu (Jeff) (55.87%), Director, College of Business, Karla De La Cueva (66.47%), Director, College of Science, Krishma Malhotra (100%), Director, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and Rosa Martinez (100%), and Director, College Of Education, and Social Work.

Creative campaigns, led by those who ran, reflect the results well.

The “#votemmk” campaign led by Maria S. Marquez (senior, Communications), current ASI President, Michelle Nungaray (senior, Criminal Justice Major) and Karmjit Bath (Finance) caught the attention on and off campus. Their campaign included posters around campus and even clever videos advertising their campaign via social media.

Maria explained the hard work the group put into “MMK” and said, “For ASI elections, it is the job of the candidates to go out of their way and promote themselves and inform students that they are running to be their next student leaders. I ran with a slate and we called ourselves MMK and the reason I love running with a group is that I believe teamwork makes the dream work so why not support and hype other students to run and be student leaders as well.”

She went on to say, “Since we were already involved within student government and wanted to re-run once again, we decided to get together and plan out our campaigning strategies for this year’s elections. It took a lot of time to decide on how we were going to market ourselves this year, we brainstormed creative ways to create videos to promote ourselves this way as well and not limit ourselves with just a flyer, we also reached out to numerous of clubs, fraternities, and sororities and worked around their schedule to come by their meetings and inform them why we were running and be able to show them in person our passion for these positions.”

Marquez said, “Another thing we did was that we also spoke inside classes to inform students to go out and vote and hopefully they can support MMK but most importantly vote for their next student leaders!”

Maria, Michelle, and Karmjit also made the effort to include the Stockton Center by putting up fliers and speaking to students.

Karmjit Bath described how he views his position, “Someone who can actively represent the campus as a whole. It gives me the opportunity to work with other board members as well and take what they are tackling and assist them in their endeavors. I’m like the most versatile board member [excluding the Vice President and President], I have the ability to do it all because I represent everyone.”

The newly elected students shared their goals for this term.

Michelle Nungaray plans to start a “Mental Awareness Week” and expanding the “Speak Your Mind” event and said, “Students should be seen as frequently as they feel the need. Reason being, for one, taking that first initial step to sign up for counseling is one of the hardest steps. As college students, we are put under extreme pressures. Mental health is not something to put a bandage on but rather something that needs consistent effort and work, which is why I will be tackling this issue.”

Marquez added, “My goals for next year is trying to eliminate as much as possible the red tape that the university has on student clubs and organizations but most importantly, bring back the 24 hour community service event that way organizations can be able to do overnight events on campus if they want to. I plan to work closely to Student Leadership and Development and the Dean of Students to hopefully fulfill this goal next year. As for my next initiative, is to continue advocating for student success programs on campus as well as basic needs programs (that focus on food insecurity, housing insecurity, and mental health) to support student experience on campus.”

She went on to say, “Since this year, as ASI President, I focused on food insecurity this year I hope to focus on housing insecurity next year to make sure students who are facing this hardship know about resources that can help them or create one for the campus to support students facing this hardship. I plan to work with Student Affairs on this and continue this conversation with them now that I am re-elected as President for next year.”

The opinion poll results, a reflection of student concerns and interests, were also posted. The topic that attracted the most votes was parking (46.35%).

There was also a portion of the poll for students to select a food vendor for or University Student center that is currently in construction. The top selection was smoothies (59.73%).

The results are posted on social media [Instagram @asi_usu], the school website, as well as the ASI/USU Administration Suite – Housing 122.