Position: Vice President of University Affairs
Name: Arnelle Sambile
Year: Junior
Major: Double major in English and communications
What made you decide to run for Vice President of University Affairs?
I feel that I have a responsibility to serve the communities that I have been working with since my freshman year. For the past few years minority groups have been underrepresented in Associated Students and so they feel as though their voice isn’t present at the table. I want to be the advocate for those communities and to make sure they know someone at the executive level will be advocating for them.
What’s one thing you’re looking to change about Associated Students?
One thing I’m looking to change about Associated Students is I definitely want underrepresented communities to be more involved and to have A.S. better reflect our campus population. That’s something I’m personally working on now. I definitely encourage people to get involved with A.S. because of the potential it has to create change on this campus. I want to encourage people to find different boards and commissions, or maybe even through their college council, just to get more involved.
How did you get involved with A.S.?
In high school I was the head officer of my JROTC program so I have always been drawn to leadership and leadership opportunities for the fact that I love serving people and I love helping people and I love seeing people reach their full potential. Coming into SDSU I saw the difference A.S. could make so I was really drawn in. Unfortunately my first semester I had a hard time finding the commission that I felt comfortable in, but my second semester I found the Student Diversity Commission, which became my home in Associated Students.
What do you like and dislike about Associated Students?
What I like is what drew me in. I love the potential A.S. has to create change and be the voice of the students. A.S. is a powerful organization that has made amazing things on this campus, one being the student union — I’m in awe every time I see it — the bike lanes, and I think if people see the potential it has they can really create the campus that they want to be in.
A.S. is kind of a scary name. I think there is like a stigma to Associated Students and that’s something I’m working to change, to make it more student-friendly, to have people want to be in A.S. and have it not be this scary organization which turns people off.
What are your hobbies?
Well my hobby kind of goes along with my major. I love to write, I’m a huge writer. I really like creative writing (and) for a while I was really into writing poetry. Right now I’m really into writing spoken word. Growing up I wrote a lot of autobiography/short stories.
What accomplishments are you proud of?
I had the privilege of coordinating a high school conference for APSA, so it kind of went full circle. I was able to get 125 students onto our campus, plus community members and teachers. It was very rewarding to see these students excited about pursuing their goals in higher education.
Again, going full circle, Student Diversity Commission was my second commission, but the commission where I found my home. And now being the chair I really wanted to serve the organizations that sat on SDC and let them talk about the issues that they thought were important. So we created Spring Into Diversity, which is a two-week event hosted by student organizations. Seeing student organizations work together was super cool and empowering and just seeing the different communities come together. Seeing the passion in their voices and talking about their realities was very humbling.
