San Diego State students are starting to get loud. With strongeractions by the Associated Students Council and student organizations,next year’s A.S. executive officers need to understand the issuesfacing students and must have the experience to fight for them.

The Daily Aztec supports Pricilla Ocen for A.S. president, JuanitaSalas for executive vice president, Marivic Tolentino for vicepresident of external affairs and Ryan Tolentino for vice presidentof finance. This is a slate of experience — all of these candidatescurrently hold seats on the A.S. Council and are part of the recentincrease in student activism. They all exhibit a professionalism thatwill enable them to champion student rights, a professionalism thathas the respect of campus decision-makers.

Ocen is currently the A.S. vice president of external affairs andserves on the Campus Fee Advisory Committee and the UniversitySenate. This position has prepared her for being the representativeof 31,000 students. She is familiar with the ins and outs of what canbe a tricky university. She understands the professionalism necessaryfor the position, but is not afraid to raise her voice for studentissues.

Salas has been a member of A.S. Council since her freshman year.Her involvement with student organizations has prepared her for thejob of supervising them. Being chairwoman of the A.S. Rules Committee– one of the most complicated roles in the student government — hasprepared her to manage boards and committees.

Although the candidates for vice president of external affairs areextremely diverse, Marivic Tolentino is professionally vocal, atalented speaker and willing to get involved. She has been a memberof the external affairs board, attended several California StateStudent Association conferences and lobbied for student issues inSacramento.

Ryan Tolentino knows money. He is the current vice chair of theFinance Board, helped revise the “How to Spend Your A.S. Dollars”handbook and has assisted student groups with budget dilemmas. He canbe trusted to handle a $14 million budget.

Students have the ball rolling. Concerns are being heard. Let’strust a qualified group of representatives to lead us to the nextlevel.