AS takes a new direction

The Associated Students have managed to fill their vacancies. The budget management, student affairs, and student outreach positions were selected after the board of directors deliberated for almost two hours during Monday's board meeting.

A total of seven students were nominated to vie for their respective director positions.

"I want AS to be known; I want people to recognize us," said Cassandra Ramirez, new director of student outreach.

Ramirez, an environmental studies major, is in her second year at SMC and second semester working for the AS.

Business major Inayat Issa, new director of budget management, had the advantage of already having worked on the AS budget before the board elected him. AS President Ty Moura had asked Issa for assistance at the start of the semester, when the former budget management director left. Issa was working as Moura's main commissioner this semester.

"I hope to continue with what the previous board did," Issa said. "Why try to reinvent the wheel?"

Kyseniya Lyalina, new director of student affairs, worked as a commissioner for Samantha Ross, the spring semester's AS secretary.

Alex Abramoff, who ran for AS president during the elections in the spring, was among the nominees. During his pitch for director of student outreach, Abramoff reminded the board of his participation in campus activities, and that he was invested in creating a community within SMC.

"The more hands you have pulling the string, the faster the string gets pulled," Abramoff said in his closing remarks.

The new directors took their seats immediately upon being appointed.