Christina Young-Valdovinos and Mona Sabetzadeh are officially running for the positions of president and vice president in the upcoming Associated Students of Oregon State University presidential election.
Young-Valdovinos, a third year human development and family sciences student, said she was inspired to run for office by a former ASOSU president.
“Since my freshman year, I knew I wanted to run one day,” Young-Valdovinos said. “I actually talked to (Former ASOSU President Carissa O’Donnell), who, when we were freshmen, was the president.”
O’Donnell suggested Young-Valdovinos get involved at the school and see if she wanted to run for student government.
“For the past month I’ve been looking for a vice president and I found Mona,” she said. “We’ve been friends since freshman year, and she was just the best person to do it with.”
Sabetzadeh, a third-year biology student on the pre-veterinary track, said she was involved with her high school campus, which was something she missed at OSU.
“I think that (Young-Valdovinos) and I are both very active in the campus community between clubs and always being at these different events,” Sabetzadeh said. “I think (OSU) does so much for their students, but what else can we do? Can we keep fostering this? There’s nothing more I love than seeing other people, being around them, and seeing different communities and interacting with everything you maybe wouldn’t usually.”
Young-Valdovinos said her experience as her high school’s Associated Student Body president, along with a year spent abroad has helped prepare her for the role.
“I spent a year abroad, in Brazil, and I was completely alone there,” Young-Valdovinos said. “I was making my own connections, trying to learn the language. So I think traveling and meeting new people, just going into new clubs has really helped me have leadership skills.”
According to Sabetzadeh, her work as a secretary for the student club SAFAR, which promotes community and education for Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) and African students, has given her insight into how the student government works along with the potential to find your community at OSU.
“There’s still so much to be learned,” Sabetzadeh said. “But now, I dipped my toes in, and … being a part of OSU and (see) that it is what you make of it … Some people don’t know what they could make of it, (maybe) they’re stuck in their room and they feel stuck. They don’t find their community, but there’s a lot out there.”
Young-Valdovinos and Sabetzadeh said there are many issues facing students and the student government at OSU, but they said the most pressing issues are how little students know about the ASOSU and the student fee process.
“As students, we are paying student fees every year,” Young-Valdovinos said. “But when we ask our friends or just our peers, they’re not really sure what’s going on there. So we really just want to be transparent and also hear what the students think that we need to better the school.”
Sabetzadeh said the price of food on campus is another issue she and Young-Valdovinos are looking into.
“Food is super expensive on campus,” she said. “Which I know is a much more specific and complicated issue that we would need help trying to figure out, but I think that is something I hear a lot from my friends, roommates, everyone, even professors, that a $6 coffee is pushing it on the college student budget.”
The wait time to see a counselor through OSU’s Counseling & Psychological Services is another topic that concerns the ticket.
“So with CAPS, that’s a great opportunity to go get individual as well as group therapy,” Young-Valdovinos said. “But the line is so long that we’d want to make it more accessible for everyone to get the help when they need it. Not just, ‘oh, in two months, maybe you’ll get help.’”
Sabetzadeh said she recognizes the challenge, but that she and Young-Valdavinos can put some effort into the progression of CAPS.
The ticket said they’re also looking to increase the number of big events put on by ASOSU each year.
“We’d love to have monthly events where we could do things like movie nights, or even just Zumba nights,” Young-Valdovinos said. “(We’re) thinking about bringing more career opportunities for all colleges, because there’s only really (opportunities for) business or engineering. So let’s do more for all the students, all majors.”
Young-Valdovinos said, if she becomes president, she plans on setting up a biweekly time for students to come to the ASOSU offices and voice their concerns.
“We want to help connect with the people we know, see what they need, connect to the people we don’t know yet,” Sabetzadeh said. “See what they need, just respond to the call of the students.”