It was the second time I had ever entered the Consejo General de Estudiantes (CGE) office since I started school, five years ago. The first time it was for using their microwave (yes, they have two microwaves conveniently available for UPRM’s students to use). I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was a nice surprise to walk in into a room full of fellow Colegiales with great disposition to share their work with the UPRM community.
Pedro Rodriguez, a fifth year Mechanical Engineering major is the UPRM’s Student Representative to the Junta Universitaria. Through his position, he gets direct access to the UPR’s President, and has an active voice in the major decisions that affect how the University’s whole system works. “I was president of SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) and I wanted to do many things with the organization that I wasn’t allowed to because of university policies and regulations. So, I educated myself a bit more about the process and decided to get involved on it.” We talked about his projects for the Junta, based on the current needs of the UPRM students. I felt relieved to know that an alternative solution for our beloved and efficient matrícula system is on its way.
Some of them got here by accident. Such is the case of Agriculture’s Department Student Senator, fifth year student Krizia Rivera, who was looking for an extracurricular activity to get involved in. This is her second year in the CGE, first as an Academic Senator. She feels that she has grown in every aspect: responsibility, time management, and learning to be more extroverted. But what she treasures the mosabout this experiencet is understanding the true meaning of democracy, “My job is to listen to the students and make their voice be heard, not mine.” She is a visionary, and spires to put her knowledge as an agronomist to a good use in having her own farm in the future.
The Science’s senator is a doctor-to-be and my personal friend (since we shared the burden of Genetic’s class), José J. Del Toro. Born in México but raised in Mayagüez, JJ (as we fondly know him) joined the CGE two years ago. He is very invested on making a difference within the UPRM community, you can tell by the various projects he has on agenda from wider course availability to the actualization of curriculums, “As a Science’s Senator I consider that investigation is vital in our careers. Therefore, my goal is to make sure that the resources are there for everybody to get involved in investigation, as well as updating the technology in the laboratories so that they can make the best science possible.” Despite being so actively involved in the school’s politics, his professional goals remain the same since his beginnings: to become a doctor in medicine. “What I love the most is to help people. That is what I am doing here as a senator, and that is what I will do as a doctor.”
Naysha Alcalá is the senator from Arts and a third year Political Science major. She is into Economy and International Relations. We talked about the pressure that comes with the job, since so many people see them only as senators rather than students who also have academic responsibilities, and the necessary duty to have fun in the process.“Here at CGE we are a big family. We want the UPRM community to know that they are part of that family, that they are the reason we do what we do.”
To be continued…