Irma Valverde recently was voted by the student body (1, 034 of you, to be exact!) as vice president. She will be working alongside new president, Daniel Byrd, to bring new ideas and positive change to the UConn community. We asked Irma about how she feels about taking on this role, her ideas for the upcoming school year, and more.
Year – Sophomore
Major(s)/Minor(s) – Business Management and Political Science minor
Hometown – Long Island, NY
How did you react when Dan asked you to be VP?
IV: I was a bit taken back because I didn’t really expect it. I had heard that he was thinking about running for president so when he texted me and was like “Do you want to grab lunch, I want to talk to you about something.” I just figured he was going to ask me to be a part of his campaign team. So when he did ask me I was like, “Wait, really?” but of course I had a huge smile on my face. I was also really nervous because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take on this role so it did take me some time to make the decision to run.
What are you most excited about going into next semester as the VP?
IV: The Vice President of the Undergraduate Student Government works a lot with the President on external issues, but their main focus is more on the internal part of the organization. So over the summer I will be planning our orientation for new members, finding the best tactics to recruit new members, as well as trying to keep retention and morale up by creating effective membership events. It’s hard to say what I am more excited for because all of these initiatives are going to be so great to work on, but I think out of everything I will have to say working on recruiting new members. I think this will allow me to work really closely to my fabulous cabinet which includes two chiefs of staff and our public relations director (Shout out to Erika, Sydney, and Kass). By being able to work closely with them I know that we can come up with some great strategies to bring in a group of diverse and passionate individuals.
Have you held any other positions in USG prior to VP?
IV: During my first semester at UConn, I was the Freshman Class Senator and since last April, I have been the Student Development Chairperson, where I oversee a committee that focuses on advocating for students and focusing on diversity, inclusion, spirits, and traditions.
What are your plans as VP?
IV: Going off of question number 2: I really want to improve our recruitment tactics, membership retention, and on top of that working on having our Student Organization Center become more utilized by promoting it more on campus to registered student organizations. On an external perspective I want to work closely with members of the organization and Dan on the Open Source Textbooks initiative, securing state funding by trying to increase student participation at events at the capitol, and lastly creating a safer campus by focusing on how to improve diversity and work on issues like sexual assault.
Daniel Byrd & Irma Valverde
In what ways will you be representing the UConn student body?
IV: I will be representing the UConn student body as a female Latinx first generation student. I will also be representing Greek Life students and Out of State students since I understand some issues faced by both groups. Although I am part of these communities, I hope to gain a lot of student input on campus issues to ensure all voices are represented.
What do you think will be the most difficult thing to deal with as the VP?
IV: I think the most difficult thing to deal with as Vice President is that it is a big time commitment, and that it might be hard to balance all of the things I am involved in as well as academics. I always put 100% into everything I do so I just get worried about never having some down time because I will be more concerned My academics always comes first so the time management and adjustment will be very difficult, but I hope I get the hang of it really fast.
Other than USG, what other organizations are you involved with on campus?
IV: I am the Vice President of Campus Affairs of my sorority Alpha Phi so I oversee community service, external philanthropies, and campus activities for my chapter. I am also a part of the Puerto Rican Latin American Cultural Center, and a Husky Ambassador. Last semester I was a FYE mentor and it really inspired me to continue to work closely with new students, and I am really thankful to say I am currently an Orientation Leader in Training. So I am looking forward to this summer a lot since I will be working as a O-Leader!
What is your favorite thing about being a UConn student?
IV: My favorite thing about being a UConn student is that our campus is such a perfect balance of spirit and academics. I always take so much pride in saying I go to UConn, considering we were recently ranked as the 17th best public university by Buffalo Business First, and we are the basketball capital of the world with 15 national championships. It really doesn’t get better than that.
What is your spirit animal?
IV: I would say a dog. Not only are they one of my favorite animals, but they are friendly, loyal, and empathic. Even though they don’t understand what we can say they still manage to sense how we feel and are always able to provide a sense of support, protection, and unconditional love.