ASG president and VP work to make campus comfortable for all

With the end of Fall Term approaching, Mt. Hood’s Associated Student Government (ASG) faced some uncommon challenges.

The two main staff advisers of ASG are no longer employed at the college, so an interim adviser has stepped in. The adjustments, have not always been easy.

“It took a lot of work to put everything together in terms of planning the first couple weeks of the term,” said Vice President Santiago Velasco. “We were able to figure out and work with (not only) the (one adviser) we had, but also with other advisers that work in this area.”

Both Velasco and ASG President Kelly Bernardino are second-year ASG members, so taking office and serving Mt. Hood from the student executive position was a smooth transition.

Bernardino was part of last year’s executive cabinet (EC), “So, that definitely helped, and just that communication, the kind of training with him (last year’s president) helped,” she said.

“I definitely realized when I was in the position how helpful it was being a second-year student when we were training the other ASG members,” she said.

The leadership duo was responsible for getting the rest of the ASG members trained for the year. “We have a team of 25, so we had to train them on all of the responsibilities that come with being in ASG member,” said Bernardino.

To date, ASG held a few campus events, including a club fair and a blood drive, and will host an Arab Cultural Celebration on Tuesday.

Bernardino and Velasco want to do more work to bring Open Educational Resources (OER) to Mt. Hood classrooms, but there have been some roadblocks due to administrative restructuring at MHCC.

OER are resources that can replace or supplement traditional textbooks, which are expensive. They usually have open licensing and are often available for free. OER are based on the “open source” software philosophy – a movement where software developers share their work and encourage others to change and improve it.

Other challenges faced by this year’s top student ASG officers include getting students involved in the community, and getting effective feedback from students. Bernardino said she hopes to receive such feedback from students at an upcoming forum.

She also wants students to feel secure on campus, especially those worried about the current political landscape.

“We obviously want to create that sense of community on our campus and make sure that all of our students feel safe and comfortable,” she said.

A DACA/undocumented (resident) “task force” is an idea Bernardino said possibile. This task force “could provide some legal help on campus for our DACA students and create that support for them, making sure they have the resources that they need,” Bernardino said.

Velasco is considering holding a Career Day on campus where, instead of going to class, students go around and learn about different careers that are readily available for Mt. Hood graduates. “I know that we have career fairs that are successful, but I just want to change it a little bit,” he said.

Above all, the ASG duo wants students to feel comfortable on campus, and they appreciate any feedback they want to offer.

We want (students to) get more involved (in) different ways,” said Velasco. “We try to reach out to anyone and (hold) events that are relevant to (the entire) student population.”