The Associated Students Union (ASU) began the 2019 spring term with a new president who plans to have a new approach toward student success.

The ASU is the student government run by students who represent the interests of students at Contra Costa College. It consists of two branches, the Executive Council (board of student-elected and appointed positions) and the Club Council (board of representatives from all the clubs on campus).

Rebecca Hernandez was elected ASU president in December of 2018, after former ASU President Alex Walker-Griffin vacated his post. She ran against ASU Director of Public Relations Preston Akubuo-Onwuemeka during the 2018 election process.

“My goal right now is primarily to get the ASU known on campus. That’s my biggest thing right now. I think that we have a lot of great resources and programs for our students, but a lot of them don’t know where they come from.” Hernandez said, “I think it is critical (for students) to be appreciated and respected on campus.”

The ASU wants to make sure that everyone on campus knows about student clubs and that as a member of the Associated Students Union, students have the power to make positive changes at Contra Costa College.

ASU Executive Vice President Laciee Brown said, “Since ASU has a new president, we’ve had a lot of changes. We had an amazing president last semester (Walker-Griffin), but now we have a powerful woman at the forefront of our association who’s representing our organization extremely well. She’s making sure that student representation is on a lot of the committees.”

The plan for the ASU this term is to bring more services and events to CCC. In an effort to be more accessible to students, the ASU will be running a rebranding campaign of nearly $16,000. This money will buy things such, table designs, business cards, hoodies and water bottles.

“To run any successful business, you need to be able to have these things to show that you are professional and to show that this is a real organization. If you visit any of our sister colleges, like Los Medanos College or DVC they have brochures, they have gear for their ASU clubs, you know. They have all these resources,” Hernandez said, They have all these items that are needed in order to be noticed on campus. So, we’re going to get a design pop up for our events. We will be getting a 10-foot by 10-foot custom tent, two backdrop stands in order to be “noticeable” for students at any angle of the campus (during events).”

In their last meeting with President Katrina VanderWoude and administrators, the ASU advocated for student safety and the right to keep students informed of events that would affect their educational plan.

“I feel like there’s a big barrier sometimes between students and professors and faculty because you know, they’re older they’ve already gone through school. Whereas with ASU, it’s student run, so they can come to students and talk to college peers. They can talk to us about things that they’re going through that we might be going through as well,” Hernandez said.

During the spring semester, the ASU will continue to use their funding to benefit students. They plan to host motivational speakers and even talent from the Bay Area like Mistah F.A.B. “All these events on campus are mainly organized by the ASU. Our goal is to provide means for students like the Food Pantry, the free breakfasts and things like that,” AkubuoOnwuemeka said.