Hello everyone, my name is Yu Sato, currently serving as your student body vice president. It is my honor and pleasure to write a post sharing what Student Government has done during the first quarter of the academic year 2012-2013.

Student Body Vice President Yu Sato

During the beginning of the quarter, since the previous president resigned, we had special elections for  a new ASGRCC president. Four students ran for the position, and Ty Somerville  won the elections! Here is warm greeting and introduction from ASGRCC President; Tyrone Somerville from Yonkers, NY.

Student Body President Ty Somerville

“I am a husband, father, Youth Pastor, Veteran, and a full-time student at GRCC. I hope that during my time as ASGRCC President I will be able to help build friendships between International Students and Domestic Students. Although we come from many different cultures and backgrounds, we have one common goal: graduating from GRCC. That common goal is a binding factor that will help making our college experience one of the greatest moments of our lives.”

November 2nd to November 3rd we went to a legislative academy in Olympia. Student leaders, representing their Student Government, coming from all community and technical colleges in Washington gathered to discuss legislative level issues with the state board of trustees. Each college needed to bring up at least one issue to present and only few issues can be chosen, by voting, to be focused on next year. Our proposal was to establish standardized course requirements and credit transferability to reduce wasted time and financial investments pursuing non-transferable credits.

GRCC representatives at the Legislative Academy

Our proposal was chosen with the largest amount of votes. Through this legislative academy trip, we learned how the system of community and technical colleges develops the legislative platform and how the voice of students contributed to the process. Also, we made important connections with other student leaders from across the state to develop relationships on shared issues.

For the rest of this academic year, we would like to put more effort on promoting Student Government so that more students will know the place where their voices can be truly heard. We are going to hold three events on Jan 15, Feb 6, and Mar 7, 2013, so please come and have fun with us!

Within the student senate we also just created a committee to work on new issues. The bigger an issue is, the harder it is to make changes happen quickly. So within student senate we believe that everything takes time and that taking action can benefit students in the future and make difference on campus.

Thank you very much for supporting us. Student government is for all the students on campus, so please feel free to come ask any questions or talk to us. Also if you want to know more about what we do, please visit our Facebook page at Green River Asgrcc

 By the way, here is some additional information on the event we will hold on January 15th:

ASGRCC Open House

15th Jan 2013, Tues 12-2pm @LC&MDA

There will be some carnival games, and free cotton candy and popcorn!  The event’s goal is to promote awareness about Student Government and encourage student body interaction with ASGRCC.  School Clubs info will be available as well.  ASGRCC will be introducing new official feedback channels.