Harold Goldstein
Education meets politics as the Associated Student Organization travels to Sacramento and Washington D.C. to better themselves in leadership and lobbying skills. The trip to Washington D.C., hosted by the American Student Association of Community Colleges, will focus on the teachings of lobbying to community college students and the discussions of certain issues to various senators. “Washington D.C. is a lobby trip where we attend a conference to learn how to lobby,” says Brad Saenz, faculty advisor for the ASO. “Then we actually have appointments with senators to discuss issues that effect community college students.” Only a handful of students have been set to go on this long-distance trip to Washington D.C. “We’re taking four students to Washington D.C.,” Saenz said. “The President Tessa Moss, the Vice-President Lara K., the Club Council President, which is Caroline and one senator.” During the conference, the appointed members from the ASO will be able to discuss certain issues, like student loans and textbook costs, to different senators, like Brad Sherman and David Dreier. “The reason why we’re going to D.C. is because we are the voice of our student body in Pierce College,” says Tessa Moss, President of the ASO. “This year, we’re taking the Higher Education Act, which is House Resolution 5. What the House Resolution Act does is that it’s going to lower the interest that is occurring on student loans, which actually has one of the highest interest rates on any loan.” The ASO party will be able to speak their mind about these issues to certain senators and hope what they say will make a difference. “What we are trying to accomplish is to get out the word,” Moss said. “(We need to) tell these senators and house representatives that this is what we want and if you don’t it, we’re not going to vote for you. A lot of the senators that we’re going to see are in our district and they do depend on our vote.” The trip to Washington D.C. will last from Oct. 27 to 30, 2007. The trip to Sacramento, hosted by the California Community College Student Affairs Association, will focus on the teachings of various subjects about how to run a student government to aspiring and future student government leaders. “Every year, (the CCCSAA) put on a seminar to teach student government leaders how to run their student government,” Saenz said. “It’s mostly made up of lectures, seminars, and workshops where they teach people involved in student government how to lobby what are some of the big issues going on affecting community college students and help them learn the types of events they should be having on campus, what makes up a good student government president, how to communicate with the administration, and how to do community events.” While brining another handful of students, the ASO plans to give their members the chance to learn from the seminars and workshops and gain a better understanding of student government. “On these trips, we take our executive officers and any other senators who are interested in going and teach them basically on how to run a student government,” Saenz said. “Every year, whenever we have new officers and a new senate, most of the people don’t know much about student government or how it functions. The purpose of this seminar is to teach them that.” Going to these seminars for student government has not been a one-time event but rather a tradition for the ASO. “It’s something that the ASO has always done,” Saenz said. “The Pierce College student government has always been a member of CCCSAA. As far as I can remember, as long as CCCSAA has been around, Pierce College ASO has been going to it.” The trip to Sacramento will occur sometime in Fall 2008.