The new Associated Students leaders have taken office and are making plans for organizing diverse campus events and planning the budget that benefits clubs and students campuswide.

With a new year at hand, AS President Armen Kiramijyan said “I look forward to working with everyone this year.” This year ASGCC plans on having more activities to encourage students to get involved on campus.

Due to the ethnic diversity at GCC, AS plans to have more activities to entertain, educate, and encourage a sense of community. Kiramijyan would like “more friendly ethnic activities so that the community can get involved.”

Omar Limon, vice president of campus activities, is already in the process of working on such future events.

This time around, the emphasis during the school year will not be on dunking baskets or bungee jumps, but instead will focus on having the students participate in activities they can feel a part of. “Quality and quantity,” were the words Limon used when emphasizing future cultural events of dance and music. “Let the students make music as well.”

Limon plans on having events that will include dances from various cultures. Events like opening week’s belly dancers and Taiko drummers.
An Armenian soloist will be singing in English and Armenian to soft music Sept. 23. K-Rock will also be on campus Sept. 30 to play music.

Along with campus activities, fundraisers will also play a large role in the student government’s attempt to increase student participation. As always, the majority of the fundraisers will go for budgeting clubs.

In return, the clubs will create an activity flow for the students. This is because AS is responsible for aiding clubs and accommodating their financial needs as best as possible.

Before the start of the fall semester, AS was already hard at work. But, “we haven’t come to any problem as of yet,” said Kiramijyan.

Over the summer, AS had to appoint a new vice president of administration, which meant a learning curve was required for the new officer.

Abeer Jaradeh was named vice president of administration. But before he was appointed ,Kiramijyan had to fill both roles “Vice president of administration plays a big role,” said Kirmijyan.

The vice president of Administrations in AS is in charge of AS’s agendas and monitoring the by-laws of the AS constitution.
The by-laws provide AS with its rules and rights. This will be Jaradeh’s first time in AS as the vice president of administration.

With more than 23,000 credit/non-credit students attending GCC, issues are bound to come up.

Most of these issues concern student clubs and the budgets for those clubs, since requests for funds by clubs are not always approved.
Requests by clubs, whether for parties or simply banners, are reviewed by AS to see if they should be approved or not.

To deal with all of its significant and insignificant problems, the AS picks up where it left off from the previous year.

This continuous cycle allows members of AS to go over and address problems that were not dealt with from the previous year due to a lack of resources or time.

“Not one problem goes on without being considered through this process, picking up where others left [it] off,” said Kiramijyan.
Cabinet members encourage students to attend legislature meetings and to feel free to ask questions. “The student center is for the students,” said Kiramijyan.

“We encourage the students to join the legislative meetings at the student center to come give their input and concerns.” The legislative meetings are every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m.

In order to learn how to work as a team, AS goes on retreats where they participate in leadership training exercises.

A retreat is currently being planned to Lake Arrowhead where the legislative branch of the AS will learn how to better work as a team. “We do leadership workshops; it helps us work with each other,” said Erik Yesayan, vice president of finance.

The retreats give members of AS an opportunity to prepare for the school year by allowing them to work together as a team in a close environment.

With a legislative branch consisting of five vice presidents, one president and 15 senators, learning how to work as a coordinated team is vital. “We need to understand each other on a personal level,” said Kiramjyan.

With the new school year in motion AS is entering the new semester with enthusiasm. “I look forward to working with everybody. I think it’s going to be a great year,” said Jaradeh.