ASG appoints new Vice President

Nathan Skarphol, Vice President of ASG. Photo by Prisma Flores

Nathan Skarphol, Mt. Hood’s ASG (Associated Student Government) director of finance, has been appointed ASG vice president, as of Winter Term.

During the winter break, the ASG team met during a retreat to discuss its accomplishments and goals for the new term. It was then that elected ASG Vice President Carrie McIntosh announced she was resigning from her post to join the U.S. Army.

Skarphol will step into the role without shedding his duties as finance director.

“I won’t be changing from that position because there’s a lot of stuff that I want to see through to the end” of the school year, he said. “It’s just easier to kind of keep continuity for our team, as well.”

Skarphol initially got involved with ASG through last year’s student election campaigns, he said. He noticed posters and got involved with ASG President PonyBoy Peterman and McIntosh’s campaign.

“I thought it would be a little bit too much (of a) workload for me to become either president or vice president, so I opted to help PonyBoy and Carrie,” he said.

As a political science major, Skarphol said he was fascinated by the campaign process: “For me that was super interesting – just figuring out how student politics work on campus and how to get students engaged in events and figuring out what the students need and want.”

The transition has been a big learning curve, but Skarphol said the transparency of the ASG president and vice president has made adjusting to McIntosh’s workload pretty easy. He was able to pick up what she left, and able to keep communicating with her campus contacts.

“I think that one of the most unique things that I bring to the table is my age and the experience I’ve had,” said Skarphol. “Although I’m not older, I’m still a non-traditional student. I’m in high school.”

At 17 years-old, Skarphol is a high school senior attending the Clackamas Web Academy. He said he hopes his age will work as an advantage in reaching other young students transitioning from high school to college.

Advocate Staff