Outgoing ASG president and v.p. find footing for next step

Current ASG President Alma Pacheco and Vice President Cristian Urzua have a few weeks left in office. The two will head to separate universities next year, and plan to continue with their roles as student politicians.

But first, reflecting on the 2014-15 academic year, they said they have grown as individuals, and value their team on ASG (associated student government) at Mt. Hood.

“The presidency was just phenomenal for me,” said Pacheco. “It was honestly one of the best years of my life.” She said challenges are to be expected in a position of leadership. “I couldn’t have had a better opportunity to serve the school that I didn’t choose to come to,” she said, noting that MHCC “chose me” by electing her.

Urzua said that ASG exceeded expectations as a team. “Getting all the compliments from the board of education saying that they were really proud of this ASG team – having (MHCC President) Debbie Derr say it to us is just pretty awesome,” he said.

Listing some of their accomplishments, Pacheco and Urzua said they purchased the Oohlala app during last summer. “It was a rough start; we ended up having the app (operating) in October,” said Urzua.

With the app’s success, Mt. Hood will be able to rebrand it. “It wouldn’t be called Oohlala anymore, it would be called the ‘student life’ app … it’s going to be easier and more accessible for (users), and you won’t have to hear about ‘Oohlala’ anymore, ever again,” Urzua said.

The pair’s effort to unify ASG more was also something they were able to effectively achieve, they said.

“We really do want to recognize the whole team,” said Pacheco. “We wanted everyone to have an equal opportunity to be the leader they can be … and one of the things that we wanted to do was improve the communication within the team.

“We did that, and we really improved that by breaking down that wall that divided our office,” said Pacheco about the actual wall that separated the ASG executive cabinet and student senate from the Student Activities Board (SAB).

Among other accomplishments, Pacheco and Urzua said they completed the campus smoking survey, re-purchased TriMet bus tickets to help students with transportation, and worked toward bringing the Wallace Medical Concern’s mobile clinic to MHCC.

Directing advice to Seth Albert, ASMHCC’s president-elect, Urzua said the college’s administrative advisers are a great resource. “They won’t force you to take any decisions that you don’t want to. Just continue what we created, that’s really what I hope for” to see the new team succeed, he said. “That communication is essential with faculty and advisers and staff members.”

Pacheco told Albert that he should always put the students’ interests first. “Whenever you’re making a decision, have it engraved in your heart and the back of your head: ‘What would the students want?’ ” she said. “Use the tools that are left for you (to) the best advantage.”

After graduating from Mt. Hood, Pacheco plans to attend Western Oregon University to study law. She said she hopes to join the student government there, and hopes to “keep on communicating to the community,” she said.

Urzua said he will attend the University of Oregon to study business and law while also serving as a student leader.