A sit down interview with SGA presidential candidate Camila Gaona Galvan about her intentions to run for the position.
Current Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President Camila Gaona Galvan has experienced what it is like to work in a high administrative position.
The junior communication studies major from Paraguay realized throughout her time at APU that she has a desire to serve the student body by acting as the bridge between administrators and students, as well as helping facilitate discussion between the two. For this reason, she decided to run for president in this year’s SGA presidential elections.
Galvan has a long term goal of becoming the president of her home country one day. Although ambitious, she is determined to reach her career aspiration and is willing to put in the work.
For the 2020 presidential elections, Galvan’s platform is deeply rooted in fostering inclusivity and community on campus, and a team atmosphere within SGA. But the focal point of her campaign thus far has been the idea that all students at APU have a purpose, and by sharing hers with the student body, she would in turn help fellow students to find their own.
In a sit down interview with ZU News, Galvan shared some of the lessons that she has learned in her current role at SGA, the issues that she would like to tackle as president and how she would plan on resolving issues that are relevant to the APU community such as parking and safety.
ZU Media: Can you describe yourself?
Camila: A big important aspect of myself is that I am an international student from Paraguay, South America, which means that I come from a very welcoming and friendly culture, and therefore I hold relationships as a very important value. If I run across to you on Cougar Walk or on the trolley, I would genuinely love to to get to know you, and something that I hold dear to my heart is also that it’s important to do good work, to have fun while we’re doing the good work and doing it for the glory of Jesus.
ZM: What are some of the things that you have learned in your current role as SGA vice president and things that you would want to improve as president?
C: Something that I’ve learned in my current role is that our population of students is a very diverse one in terms of faith backgrounds, ethnicity, cultures, languages, majors, but at the end of the day, we all desire to know and understand what our purpose is. I’ve realized that with being students in college, we sometimes wonder why we are sitting in certain classes and we forget what our purpose is in the midst of the process, and therefore learning that we need to remember that we do have a purpose in the midst of the process, that there is purpose in the midst of the classes that we go to and in the midst of the responsibilities that we do have now, today.
What I’ve learned from working alongside our current SGA president, Tayo, is that we are a team, and that we’re not doing things alone but that every person on the team has a function to fulfill that is vital to the end goal. That’s something that I would love to take into next year and it’s part of the vision and the purpose that I have for running which is that I believe we are a team, and that together as a team we make decisions that then benefit the student body and our extended team is in fact the student body.
ZM: There is a little bit of a disconnect between SGA and the student body. Do you plan on implementing ways in which the student body could be more informed of the things that you are working on?
C: I do know and understand that at times it may be difficult to understand what we do as a SGA, and I do see it as important for the student body to know what student government is doing, because at the end of the day, we are here to represent you, and therefore that is one of my biggest desires for next year is to create platforms in which students can engage more with SGA, because if we’re making decisions based off of what students needs are, then it’s important to know what students are desiring and wanting.
ZM: What activities are you invested in outside of SGA?
C: In my years here at APU, I have been involved in the alpha program, I have been in a transfer alpha group and therefore I got an understanding of what it’s like to be a transfer here at APU and understanding that it’s important to know our different populations of students. I’ve also been involved with Mexico Outreach and action teams and have seen how much of an impact the office of CSA for example has on students.
ZM: What are the biggest issues that you would like to tackle as president?
C: Oftentimes when we go into leadership, we are taught to be the head of the body. But in my opinion, I think that as a leader, I would rather be heart of the body, meaning that I would want to send the blood and help set the beat and the tone for what next year will look like, because at the end of the day we will have students that are being the hands and the feet and the head, and that’s people within SGA but also our student body is what also fulfills a different part to the body. Therefore, I want the beat that I set to be passion; passion for students to actively pursue what they want to pursue. Whether that is in the APU community or outside of it; whether that’s through sports, or through their major or their jobs; whether it’s pursuing a passion of their own through the arts- I really want to be able to encourage the student body to find common ground, and to offer more platforms on which students can engage with administrators.
ZM: Do you think one year as president would be enough for you to make all those plans come into fruition?
C: In my case, this is where I have had the unique opportunity to have been in SGA this whole year as vice president which has allowed me to already set ground for some of these visions and purposes that I have for next year. Yes, a year is a short amount of time. However, it is enough time to lay a foundation for the students that are going to come two years from now, three years from now and five years from now.
ZM: What are your stances on prevalent issues such as parking and food services that we have in our community?
C: I would first ask the question to students of what have their thoughts and opinions been on the change in dining services with Bon Appetit. There was an issue and now there has been a change so the first question is, how are students responding to this, and is it good? Does it still need improvement? And we would move on from there.
In regards to Campus Safety, also understanding that we have been under a new realm of campus safety in the last couple of years, and getting to hear from students how this experience has been with Campus Safety, first going from the angle of hearing from students first, like what has been your experience in these aspects, before jumping into ‘Oh, this is what we’re going to do and this is what we’re not going to do.’ What I can say, though, is that throughout this year I have been a part of conversations with the people that do get to make decisions on behalf of our university on a higher level, and I can say that there are conversations being had, and that our university does know that parking is a matter that needs to be resolved and I can say that there are conversations being had and strategies that are being worked on to help solve these issues.
ZM: You and Tayo ran together as a ticket. How would you go about recreating that team environment where you really have someone that you are closely connected to and feel very comfortable working with such as Tayo?
C: This year I’m not running with anyone specific, but it is important for a team to be able to function in a way that everyone is on the same page, and therefore if I were to get elected, the first thing I would do is have a conversation with those that are running and thankfully I’ve have spoken to everybody that is running for the VP role, and therefore there isn’t a lack of relationship there. In fact there is a relationship there with all of those that are running. If I were to get elected and with whomever will get elected for the VP, the first thing would be is to sit down together and continue to share our goals and visions for next year and be on the same page before we even start our year.