SOAR co-chair aims to ‘break the ice,’ attract more students

Alma Pacheco and Cristian Urzua want to be the next ASG president and vice president. Pacheco, 19, and Urzua, 19, are both business majors who share a Hispanic background and met at church. The duo has been planning on running for the ASG leadership since the fall of last year.

Pacheco is currently an active member of SOAR, is the MeCHA co-chair and was a part of the student government at David Douglas High School, as the event coordinator. She also has experience working at church when she moved to the U.S. from her native country of El Salvador at the age of 12.

“When I first actually moved into the United States, I started working for a parish called Ascension Catholic Church… and that’s where I became a Catholic director. From there on, my leadership evolved into sacrament teachings, like first communion and whatnot,” she said.

Pacheco draws inspiration and strength from her lifelong battle from a chronic disease, cystic fibrosis, which affects the lungs and other critical organs. “It’s not genetic; it’s like a lottery ticket,” she said.

As a child, she couldn’t eat solid food, and she didn’t have her first piece of pizza until she was 9. “It was amazing,” she said, recalling the experience.

“There’s a lot of… diagnoses that the doctors give me, that you have a limit… that there’s certain time left for your life – and I wanna make that into advantage,” Pacheco said. “I want to be able to – if there is that limit – I want to be able to use it wisely. And why not leave a legacy here and let people know that I did help them out, that I was able to make a change?”

Urzua, currently the ASG senator of mathematics, finance and science, said that he draws his inspiration from his upbringing, as well.

“My parents… always taught me to be a humble person, (be) responsible, and always serving our community, whether it’s opening doors for an older person” or some other help, he said. “And that has always stuck with me, helping others.”

The duo’s plan, if elected, includes staging campus events that “benefit the whole diverse student body, but also benefits the community,” such as a farmers markets and others in order to “break the ice,” they said.

Urzua believes the pair’s combined experience will benefit students, as well. “We bring two different leadership organizations to work together: Alma being part of SOAR and me being part of student government, we bring two different perspectives, one being recruiting, and one being retaining students here,” he said.

Pacheco sees a positive in their different perspectives: “I think differently than he does, and negatives and positives, I guess, attract.”

Originally, the two had planned to run for president and vice president for the 2013-2014 school year, but Pacheco’s condition had worsened and she was forced to rest. “I never sit down and take time for me. And I did that for two terms,” she said.

She said she believes it was a good decision, and is feeling prepared to take on the ASG challenge next year, if elected. “Now that it’s my third year, I have a small amount of credits to achieve – I can take (one or two classes) a term and I’ll be fine – I can put more time into the responsibility,” she said.

“I’m ready. I’m stable. I know I can help… and I know I can focus on myself, as well, at the same time.”