Since it was founded in 1921, Associated Students has never had a full female executive team leading the student body. Running from different slate campaigns, SDSU students voted for this team to handle student affairs for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Each spring, candidates gather into groups of like-minded individuals to support each other during the student government race. Slates give candidates the opportunity to cross-promote their campaigns and further themselves through the election process.
President Kareen Holstrom, along with Vice President of External Affairs Abby McLachlan and Vice President of Financial Affairs Aliza Siddiqui, ran through the slate Amplify. According to an Instagram post, the students under Amplify shared a similar student-focused vision driven by dedication, and committed to fostering safety and uplifting all students at San Diego State.
“We worked together to find leaders we aligned with and make shared goals with,” McLachlan said.
Executive Vice President Milan Rawls and Vice President of University Affairs Nadia Gallarzo ran with the slate Elevate. Elevate was focused on student engagement, strengthening safety and improving academic performance for students, as stated on their Instagram as well.
Although not uncommon for elected students to come from different slate backgrounds, the girls found no issues combining their goals once in office. They explained their smooth transition into collaborating with each other once elected.
“In the beginning, we had come from different teams. But as soon as we had our first meeting, it was pretty evident that we all had similar goals and all of our values kind of aligned either way,” stated Gallarzo.
Siddiqui agreed, explaining how they spent long meetings coming up with their executive officer goals and slogan, “Rooted in Hope, Grounded by Community,” to spread a shared spirit of unity to the student body.
The team takes pride in being elected as an all-female group despite campaigning in separate slates. Although each slate was co-ed, the student body entrusted them to take on the responsibility.
“It was definitely decided by the students because we didn’t run as an all-female slate,” Gallarzo said. “It was really great to see they were all entrusting women to take on these big roles.”
Holstrom noted that, “It was a 15% voter turnout, so it was double last year.” They attributed such a high participation rate to their respective slates’ heavy social media presence and engagement with various registered student organizations.
As a group, the girls have forged a strong friendship through the experience as executive leaders. Although they have had a smooth experience as women in student government, there have been those who initially doubted their ability to work together.
Rawls describes an encounter the night they won, in which people commented that there would be drama because the team was all female.
“We’ve never had any issues,” she stated. They work well together and feed off of one another to achieve their goals, especially in their respective roles.
“We are all very passionate about our individual roles and being able to come together and serve the student body,” Siddiqui added. “It’s really nice to be able to have such an impact and leave a legacy.”
