With classes back in session and students getting into the full swing of the semester, the Associated Students of Mills College (ASMC) held their election speeches on Wednesday, Sept. 11 for candidates to share with the campus who they are, what they are running for and what they hope to do for the Mills community.
“It’s always exciting to work with new folks. Everybody brings their experiences and passions to the table,” said Mel Petricko, ASMC student services chair. “So it’s always great every time we have new senators; we have new ideas that come in.”
Present at the event were ASMC President Meghan Hinsch, Internal Affairs Officer Kelly Dingman and Petricko. The three took turns introducing themselves, then gave the platform to the candidates. Out of the 13 total candidates running for office in ASMC, three showed up at the lunchtime event to present their speeches.
“The only members who are required to give the speech are the executive board members, so everyone else is obviously encouraged to give a speech but it’s not required in order to run,” Hinsch said. “We only had one person running for an executive position so to have other people come out and be brave and stand in front of other students and be like ‘this is who I am, this is what I’m about,’ I was really happy to see that, and it gives a really good chance for the rest of students to put a face with the name.”
The first candidate was senior Chantel Gammage, who is running for Public Relations Chair. Gammage introduced herself as a “strong leader” and recalled her performance from SO Mills Diversity Hour Talent Show as proof. Gammage performed her own rap about her experience as a student at Mills, using the beat of the song “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Her performance in Adam’s Plaza had the audience clapping along to the beat as she shared her experience of living in the Bay Area, the people she has met and Mills overall.
Gammage wants increased publicity for the ASMC; she said it should be “seen and heard more” than it is now and promises to make that a reality if she is elected Publicity Chair.
The next candidate was Erin Clark, a first year student running for 2017 class president. Clark wants to be a politician, and said that she chose to run for president because she wants to be more involved with the students. She said she wants to collect ideas on events students might be interested in.
“I really like to get to know people and communicate and learn people’s needs,” Clark said.
Clark also said that she wants to address concerns that arise in the residence halls such as the enforcement of quiet hours.
Clark said that because Mills is a small campus, she believes that it will be easier to bring students’ needs to the attention of people with power.
The last candidate to deliver her speech was first-year Monika Sabic, who is running for vice president of the class of 2017. Sabic said that her main focus is to have undergraduate students participate in events and get to know their classmates more.
“I felt this would be a fresh, new place to start and I want to get involved,” Sabic said in an interview.
In hopes of having a stronger student body, Sabic wants to see undergraduates and graduate students work together.
“I want to be more involved and have a connection,” Sabic said. “I really want to focus on giving back to Oakland, not just to our school but the city and community around us.”
Ballots were sent out through a link via Facebook posts, group pages and student email; all undergraduate students are eligible to vote.
ASMC full board meetings are open to the public and are held every other Monday at 6:30 p.m. in room 118 of the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business. Students are encouraged to come to these open forums with any questions or concerns they may have or to see what is going on with campus affairs; the next one will be held on Monday, Sept. 30.
