Deanna Jarquin was named next year’s Chico State Associated Students president on Thursday by a margin of 170 votes.
Jarquin is a senior double majoring in psychology and women’s studies.
In the past, Jarquin has had experience interning at the Gender & Sexuality Equity Center and has worked at LeadCat and the Cross-Cultural Leadership Center.
“I had done a lot of activities on this campus, and I had seen things I wanted to change,” Jarquin said. “I knew that was the perfect place for me to really represent the student voice. As the Associated Students president, you have such an amazing and powerful role to really represent that voice at the administrative level.”
Jarquin became emotional when asked about who inspired her to run for the head of Chico State’s student government.
“The students that I’ve worked with,” she said. “Specifically, the ones who have been younger than me or maybe weren’t as experienced as me. And specifically, I think of a young woman who worked with me a lot on my campaign too.”
Jarquin also gained inspiration from her time working at the CCLC.
“I was working with diverse populations of people that had been told their entire lives that they weren’t a leader, they weren’t confident, and that they couldn’t represent student voice because they didn’t look like the rest of our student body,” Jarquin said. “And to watch them grow with that confidence and be able to mentor them, through inspiring them, I inspired myself to really be able to take on this role.”
During her time as A.S. president, Jarquin plans to focus on increasing alternative late-night programming, as well as institutionalizing it.
She plans on working with the University Police, the Chico Police Department and City Council to come up with a comprehensive plan regarding how to better police the areas around campus, specifically the two miles around campus where a majority of students live. She wants to increase student safety in that area.
Jarquin wants to institutionalize resources for the University Police and work with its community organizer.
“It’s different when you get pulled for a bike ticket, and you know the person than when you get pulled over for a bike ticket, and you don’t know that person,” Jarquin said.
The student Academic Senate is another aspect that Jarquin hopes to improve upon during her term.
Jarquin was appointed as the vice president of facilities and services in February. In this position, she served as the student voice and student representative for the Bell Memorial Union and the Wildcat Recreation Center by sitting on the board of directors.
She was able to observe current president Taylor Herren and benefit from her insight for the past few months, which she feels has helped her gain a rewarding experience in terms of switching over to now chairing the board as A.S. president.
Jarquin picked the campaign slogan “Experience meets passion” because she felt that it perfectly represented who she is and what she plans to bring to the position.
Jarquin said that through her multiple positions she’s worked on campus she has gained valuable insight into further strengthening the campus in more ways than one.
“If I didn’t have to be the Associated Students president for what I want to accomplish on this campus, then I probably wouldn’t be,” Jarquin said. “If I could make our degree more successful in the marketplace, if I could have a safer campus, if I could have more diversity and inclusion being represented just as a student, I would. I’m really here because those are the values that I have, and that’s what i want to increase in the next year.”
Kristina Martinez can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.
