The first student government meeting was held Sept. 20 in the Harvin Center at Heritage Campus.
It kicked off with an introduction of the club’s officers: President Sofia Jimenez, Vice President Albert Martinez, Secretary Isabella Francisca Doria, Treasurer Anai Austin and Stephanie Garza as the communication and historian officer.
Beverly Cage, adviser for the Student Government Association and director of Student Leadership and Campus Life, was also introduced.
Next, the club moved into an introduction of campus resources, the most notable being the online tutoring center known as Tutor.com, which is available through Canvas in the Viking Central section.
“Tutor.com is a 24-hour tutoring service that’s free to students,” Jimenez said. “You can either speak to somebody, or you can just turn a paper in and they will bring it back to you with some feedback.”
Students can also schedule a meeting for a later date.
They also mentioned the Student Success Center for tutoring, which is a student-on-student type of service.
According to Cage, the SSC has relocated to the third floor of the Venters Building at Heritage campus.
The meeting featured a couple of staff speakers, including Steven McFarlin from the Counseling Center and Carla Gamez-Vela, director of intramural sports.
McFarlin mentioned his department’s willingness to help assist the emotional needs of students on every campus.
According to McFarlin, whether it’s a simple problem, a concern for a friend or even suicidal thoughts, the Counseling Center handles it all.
“We’re all counselors, we’re all therapists; I mean it’s our job to talk, so come and talk to us even if you have a question about something,” McFarlin said.
According to McFarlin, not only does the Counseling Center offer help to the students, but to the partners of the students as well.
“If you’re in a relationship, that’s OK. Only one person has to be enrolled at Del Mar. Come and see us and we can see you and your significant other/others as well,” McFarlin said.
Services are offered at all three of Del Mar’s locations for support from every campus.
Gamez-Vela from intramural sports also introduced their plans for the year.
“We have a full calendar of events,” Gamez-Vela said. “We have free tennis lessons every Tuesday night, Zumba Monday nights and water aerobics Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Gamez-Vela said, mentioning only a few of the many activities planned.
The program sends out flyers digitally and around campus before each upcoming event.
“If you guys see any of these flyers, they should also be in your email, all you have to do is scan the QR code and everything opens up,” Gamez-Vela said.
The Disabilities Services Office has been renamed as the Access and Advocacy Center in efforts to be more inclusive.
According to Jimenez, the center offers accommodations of all sorts, such as books on PDF that will read to you, a recording device that records your professor and types everything out for you, time outs during tests for anxiety attack relief and more.
Cage introduced volunteer programs and opportunities to receive a cord at graduation, the first being Viking Volunteer.
“You can volunteer on and off campus, 15 hours for each semester and then upon graduation, you get this nice medallion that says you were a volunteer,” Cage said.
There are various volunteering opportunities on and off campus, according to Cage.
“You could help in the gym with Dr. Gamez, you can volunteer in our office, you can volunteer in the library, pretty much everywhere on campus,” she said.
She also brought up an off-campus volunteer opportunity called Who We Are. According to Cage, you commit to speaking with a senior citizen by phone for a minimum of four months.
“You speak to this person for one hour once a week, and that’s pretty much their only connection with the world,” Cage said, referring to the importance and excitement of these phone calls to the seniors.
The group also approved a motion to give $500 to the club with the most representatives in attendance at student government meetings by the end of each semester.
The meeting ended with free pizza, beverages, and a prize drawing, in which pretty much every student in attendance won something. The prizes included bags, pens, folders, water bottles, snacks, earbuds and ice rays tickets.
Del Mar college student and respiratory therapy major Luis Mendoza plans on attending future meetings, and recommends other students to as well.
“All students should attend these meetings because it’s information that many people are not aware of even in the sense of what’s going on right now,” Mendoza said.
The next meeting will be held at the Windward Campus on Oct. 18. Students are advised to check their emails regularly for Zoom links, agendas and more about the upcoming meeting.
For more questions about the group email studentgovernment@delmar.edu.
