Director of Student Services: Victor Castro Wants To Give Back

Victor Castro is a science major running for the director of student services. Castro has been the primary commissioner in Associated Students for two semesters at the request of A.S. President Jeronimo Saldana.

Closely following Saldana's footsteps, Castro believes he has learned a lot.
This Santa Monica College sophomore has spent a year working in the A.S. office and is an adamant supporter of freedom of speech. If elected, Castro's goal is to unite the students and faculty to lobby for lower book prices. However, Castro is not just running for the title, he is running so he could do his part to give back to the school all that the school has given to him.

"I want to give power back to the students," said Castro.

Earlier on, during the first year Castro attended SMC, he joined and is now the vice president of the Association of Latin American Students, which opened his eyes to a broader view of society.

Not too long ago, Castro also went with Saldana as an SMC representative to the school alliance meeting at West Los Angeles College, and is a representative of SMC at the California State Students Association Region 7.

Aside from working in the bookstore and keeping close ties with Saldana and Tasneem Noor, who is currently the director of student services in the A.S., Castro also wants students to be more informed of the resources and scholarships available to them. Although he considered last week's Resource Fair a success, Castro would also like to improve upon it and other projects. Castro said that he wasn't sure what he was running for until he met up with Noor, who along with Saldana inspired him to run a campaign for the students.

Castro emphasized how he heard a number of complaints made against the bookstore about the cost of required texts for class. He believes the anger should be directed towards the school's departments that order these books, as they should consider using same edition books for more than a year rather than a single semester.

He is also working with Saldana on the parking meter issue on Pearl Street, and has a goal of enlarging the parking structure as well. He thinks it is far too difficult as well as a waste of time and money for students to pay two-hour parking meters when many of them have two-hour classes back-to-back.
Castro also enjoys science and outdoor activities.