Benjamin Rizzo
Tessa Moss isn’t the typical 22-year-old college student.
Driving down Victory Boulevard in her primer-colored 1989 Chevrolet Camaro, Moss isn’t listening to the latest Timberlake and Timbaland remix. In fact, she doesn’t even have a car stereo.
Just the occasional whisper of air in her ear accompanies the Kansas native to where she feels ever-so-lucky to be going-Parking Lot #7 of Pierce College.
“It was my destiny to come to Pierce,” says Moss. “I was going to go to Santa Monica College but I had a good karma vibe from Pierce.”
Whether it was good karma or not, in less than one year’s time Moss turned this “vibe” into elections as president of both the Associated Students Organization (ASO) and Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS).
She says that one of her favorite things about Pierce College is the people she has met. Being student president gives her the opportunity to enlighten these people with the opportunities that are out there for them.
So how does a native of the hustle and bustle state that is Kansas end up in the San Fernando Valley?
“It’s confusing,” claims Moss. “I’ve never lived in one place for longer than four years.” After graduating high school, she moved to Maryland near Washington, D.C. Then, she moved to Savannah, Ga. Soon, she found herself in London on a student working visa, where she was an assistant and special needs teacher.
Moss then moved back to Kansas for a short time before heading to New Orleans. Amazingly, she left New Orleans for New York City a mere three weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit. In New York, Moss attended Nassau Community College, pursuing a career in one of her life-long passions, theater. She is a definite arts lover.
Scattered throughout this chronology of destinations, Moss attained her residency two years ago by living with relatives in California. Moss has been away from her parents since she was 17 years old. She transferred to Pierce last fall after growing discouraged with theater at Nassau and is now majoring in business.
A self proclaimed “tomboy”, Moss has more of an interest in sports than she does in shopping. According to Moss, she doesn’t really have any favorite stores, she prefers wearing swishy pants over a favorite pair of jeans and even though her purse looks like Gucci, she bought it for $10 on the street in New York City.
When asked if she had a favorite football team, Moss replied, “Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers.” Her idea of good TV is watching Bear Grylls, of the Discovery Channel’s “Man vs. Wild,” fight off starvation by boiling a mountain goat’s eyeball in a hot spring on an active desolate volcano. Luckily, Moss’s choice of cuisine is a little more appetizing, as she regularly cooks Thai food for her boyfriend.
Moss is the middle child in a family of seven with two brothers and two sisters. She hopes to one day earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and maybe even a doctorate in business at either U.C. Berkeley or U.S.C.
Elected in April, Moss will be president of the ASO until July 1, 2008. During that time, she plans to get students involved with campus activities while promoting what they want as a whole.
“The problem with all presidents,” said ASO Advisor Brad Saenz, “is they always have this big target on their chest. People are always trying to look for what they’re doing wrong.”
Saenz states that Moss is really good at working with people, and is confident that this “whacky” president will smooth out waves when bad things happen.
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