Student government brings skills

By Jon Calamateos

Times Staff

[media-credit id=1 align=”alignnone” width=”300″][/media-credit]When you pay attention, you’ll find that there is help for you. The Associated Student Government at San Jose City College has begun to bring further leadership skills to the students and the first event was a success, which was held at the school theatre on March 5^th.

For the first time in a while, the ASG has put together something that has been missing from their usual events. That was to pass on what they have been learning and the main topic was, leadership.

Leadership to some is a scary thing, so it was refreshing to many that the conference was full of motivation and good vibes. Not to mention some good food. The conference was full of enthusiastic students, and various speakers who radiated the room.

The ASG was asked what sparked the idea to bring further leadership skills to SJCC students and this is what they said, “We think that leadership is very crucial for every student that comes to college, because we want to create as many leaders as possible.”

After being asked why one would think the conference was beneficial to the students, Speaker and former student Kenny Gutierrez said this. “Leadership qualities are an important factor for students here at San Jose City and also creating a sense of confidence, mentorship, team building, how to sometimes address issues we haven’t necessarily addressed before or had the skills necessarily to address the upcoming issues.” “Community college is really an awesome place to start for someone who wants a second start at academia, everything you need to succeed is here at community college. It’s just a matter of using the resources, tapping into them, and then moving forward. So this is one of those kind of resources and opportunities to allow an individual to grow personally and gain skills to move forward.”

Everyone who put the conference together was very enthusiastic and confident that what they were doing was a benefit but what about the students? This is how some students felt it was a benefit to them. “I do believe it’s beneficial to the students,” said Roy Sanchez, student at San Jose City College. “It’s great that we can have it on campus for once,” said Sanchez. “Allowing students the opportunity to learn of different methods of leadership,” said Joseph Heady, Student and President of the San Jose City College Robotics 2016 and Automation organization.

“The idea is that no one is born that way, you realize that there’s a calling, you have a need to serve something and you go out and make yourself that way,” said Blake Balajadia, “Leadership is not an unattainable thing, or something that belongs to people in positions, its everyday people that go out and build.”

For further information regarding events on campus, contact the ASG. They hold a meeting in the student center every Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in room SC204.