Former ASG president and vice president,Timothy Zercher and Mario Ruiz join newly elected executives Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson at their induction.
Photo from CSU-Pueblo ASG Facebook.

The Associated Students’ Government elections last week saw a 100 percent victory for Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson’s Legendary Party, and the newly elected ASG members were inducted Tuesday night at the 6 p.m. meeting, which was held in the ASG chambers on the third floor of the Occhiato University Center. The meeting was called to order by Speaker Anthony Schievelbein, and he requested all the former senators to share their thoughts during the last Senate meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year.

While sharing his own thoughts, Schievelbein said, “I have been honored to work with Timothy (Zercher) and Mario (Ruiz), even though it wasn’t part of a plan, it has been a very interesting and honorable experience. I know my position doesn’t exist next year, but I am still honored.”

Taylor Voss, former senator from the Hasan School of Business, said, “Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to be,’ so be the change you want to be on this campus.”

“I think ASG was one of the best decisions I made, apart from everything else I was involved in. Even if you don’t get voted into ASG, you can still put in your feedback and get involved,” said former senator at large Jordan Petty.

The induction ceremony began with an address from Gena Alfonso, director of Student Engagement and Leadership office and adviser for ASG.

In her address, Alfonso said, “I would like to thank our ASG election commissioner chair Ashley Kushner along with other commissioners and ASG coordinator Alexis King. I would like the newly elected officers to take ASG as a responsibility, not as a bullet point on their resume.”

Chief Justice Jibrail Dibble carried out the induction ceremony. She asked all the former senators to pass the light from their candles to the newly elected senators and then blow their own candles out. This symbolized the passing of responsibility to the new Senate, and afterward, the newly elected senators took their oath of office following Dibble’s lead.

Before former President Timothy Zercher and former Vice President Mario Ruiz passed their candlelight on, they made a final address to the Senate and audience.

Ruiz said, “I would not have picked a different group to work with, and I am really excited to see what my ASG team will do with the rest of their lives.”

Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson were then inducted as the new president and vice president of ASG.

In her first-ever ASG presidential address, Zarr gave a speech that made the entire room thunder with applause.

“I am overwhelmed by the support of students, faculty, staff, friends and family, and I would like to thank the outgoing ASG team of extremely enthusiastic individuals. I don’t want any of you to think that you are not important and cannot make a difference,” she said.

Zarr then explained the meaning behind ASG.

She said, “Associated means united, and our main goal is to be advocates for our students. I want all of us to be authentic, genuine and honest. ‘S’ stands for service, so we can serve as leaders to the student body. And ‘G’ is for good and gorgeous, which you all look tonight.”

The induction ceremony ended with an address from Marie Humphrey, dean of students and residence life.

“We are here for a reason and purpose beyond ourselves,” Humphrey said. “I challenge you Sarah Zarr, Gene Wilson and the entire Senate that when people are insecure give them confidence both in their academic and personal lives. When they need to be understood, put your ear down and listen to them, and when they are emotionally low, encourage them.”

Several special guests were present for the induction ceremony, including President Lesley DI Mare, faculty, staff and students, as well as friends and family members of the newly elected members of ASG.

Former ASG president and vice president,Timothy Zercher and Mario Ruiz join newly elected executives Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson at their induction.
Photo from CSU-Pueblo ASG Facebook.

The Associated Students’ Government elections last week saw a 100 percent victory for Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson’s Legendary Party, and the newly elected ASG members were inducted Tuesday night at the 6 p.m. meeting, which was held in the ASG chambers on the third floor of the Occhiato University Center. The meeting was called to order by Speaker Anthony Schievelbein, and he requested all the former senators to share their thoughts during the last Senate meeting of the 2014-2015 academic year.

While sharing his own thoughts, Schievelbein said, “I have been honored to work with Timothy (Zercher) and Mario (Ruiz), even though it wasn’t part of a plan, it has been a very interesting and honorable experience. I know my position doesn’t exist next year, but I am still honored.”

Taylor Voss, former senator from the Hasan School of Business, said, “Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to be,’ so be the change you want to be on this campus.”

“I think ASG was one of the best decisions I made, apart from everything else I was involved in. Even if you don’t get voted into ASG, you can still put in your feedback and get involved,” said former senator at large Jordan Petty.

The induction ceremony began with an address from Gena Alfonso, director of Student Engagement and Leadership office and adviser for ASG.

In her address, Alfonso said, “I would like to thank our ASG election commissioner chair Ashley Kushner along with other commissioners and ASG coordinator Alexis King. I would like the newly elected officers to take ASG as a responsibility, not as a bullet point on their resume.”

Chief Justice Jibrail Dibble carried out the induction ceremony. She asked all the former senators to pass the light from their candles to the newly elected senators and then blow their own candles out. This symbolized the passing of responsibility to the new Senate, and afterward, the newly elected senators took their oath of office following Dibble’s lead.

Before former President Timothy Zercher and former Vice President Mario Ruiz passed their candlelight on, they made a final address to the Senate and audience.

Ruiz said, “I would not have picked a different group to work with, and I am really excited to see what my ASG team will do with the rest of their lives.”

Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson were then inducted as the new president and vice president of ASG.

In her first-ever ASG presidential address, Zarr gave a speech that made the entire room thunder with applause.

“I am overwhelmed by the support of students, faculty, staff, friends and family, and I would like to thank the outgoing ASG team of extremely enthusiastic individuals. I don’t want any of you to think that you are not important and cannot make a difference,” she said.

Zarr then explained the meaning behind ASG.

She said, “Associated means united, and our main goal is to be advocates for our students. I want all of us to be authentic, genuine and honest. ‘S’ stands for service, so we can serve as leaders to the student body. And ‘G’ is for good and gorgeous, which you all look tonight.”

The induction ceremony ended with an address from Marie Humphrey, dean of students and residence life.

“We are here for a reason and purpose beyond ourselves,” Humphrey said. “I challenge you Sarah Zarr, Gene Wilson and the entire Senate that when people are insecure give them confidence both in their academic and personal lives. When they need to be understood, put your ear down and listen to them, and when they are emotionally low, encourage them.”

Several special guests were present for the induction ceremony, including President Lesley DI Mare, faculty, staff and students, as well as friends and family members of the newly elected members of ASG.

Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson | Photo courtesy of Sarah Zarr

Sarah Zarr and Gene Wilson of campus political party Legendary won the presidential and vice presidential positions during the 2015 Associated Students’ Government election at CSU-Pueblo.

“I am honored and overwhelmed by the support of CSU-Pueblo choosing me and my party as their next ASG,” said Zarr, a junior mass communications major at CSU-Pueblo.

“I am excited to get to serve the student body and be an advocate for the students of CSU-Pueblo,” she said.

All but one member of the new ASG team ran on the Legendary ticket.

“It’s an amazing feeling and I am really excited and looking forward to work now as my passion of working for the students will come true,” said Wilson, who is a junior political science and Spanish major at CSU-Pueblo.

“A lot of campaign work was done to draw students’ attention to let them know that we represent them, not ourselves,” he said.

Shawn King and Erika Retzlaff of the Legendary party won senator positions for the college of education, engineering and professional studies; Chris Barnett and Nicole Hulet won the senator positions for the college of science and math; Rosa Ramos and Ashleigh Hollowell will be senators representing the college of humanities and social sciences and Anthony Ball and Antonio Huerta will represent the Hasan School of Business.

Peter Olayiwola, Jose Lopez, Olivia Rottenborn and Matthew Barrera won the senator at large positions. Barrera is the only candidate from the Students United party who won in this year’s ASG election.

“I was still nervous about the competition as the opposition side did really well with their campaign,” Wilson said. “But our party ended up being a little more diverse than our competition’s.”

Many of the students who ran planned to do so in the months leading up to the election.

“A majority of people who wanted to run knew ahead of time,” said Alexis King, coordinator of Student Engagement and Leadership and ASG assistant at CSU-Pueblo. “Students who wanted to be involved with ASG knew the whole election process as they were already involved on campus.”

The election commissioners involved in this year’s ASG elections were not previously involved in ASG.

“From what I have seen in past, the commissioners are those students who are not involved in ASG, which makes the process fair,” said Gena Alfonso, director of Student Engagement and Leadership and advisor for the ASG.

“But ASG selects the commissioner,” she said.

The process of electing the chair for this year’s ASG election commission was a little different than that of other years.

“ASG advertises the position of the chair of election commissioners and the president and the vice president then picks the best candidate, who has to be approved by the senate,” Alfonso said.

Ashley Kushner was elected as the election commission chair by the current ASG president and vice president Timothy Zercher and Mario Ruiz.

“I think I benefitted most from this position and was able to get more involved with CSU-Pueblo and ASG,” Kushner said. “And as far as the election this year is considered, I think it went well and even the debate had a great turnout.”

The coming year in ASG will have some differences in terms of the senate positions.

“The position of the speaker is removed and next year vice president of ASG will be performing the duties of the speaker,” Wilson said.

Photo by Daniel Potter

Members of the CSU-Pueblo faculty and staff won the second annual Faculty and Staff vs. Students basketball game March 18 at CSU-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.

The CSU-Pueblo health education and prevention program, along with various other campus departments, including the Stronger As a Pack team, the student engagement and leadership office, external affairs, the student recreation center, the president’s office and the center for international programs organized the event.

“We teamed up with Stronger As a Pack, SEAL, external affairs, the student recreation center and of course my program,” said Quatisha Franklin, health education and prevention program coordinator at CSU-Pueblo. “The event planning started in the beginning of the spring semester.”

President Lesley Di Mare coached the faculty and staff team while Associated Students’ Government president and vice president Timothy Zercher and Mario Ruiz coached the student team.

Members of faculty and staff team consisted of Chris Equisel, Jenay Locke, Josh Koschke, Dax Charles, John Wristen, Laurel Kearsley, Quatisha Franklin, Todd Kelly, Tyler Hobson, Scott Robertshaw, Jerry Hall, Sean McGivney, Chris Fendrich, Danielle Valerio-Anderson and Kevin Coates.

The student team comprised of Danielle Lewis, Malik Garner, Chris Ashe, Phillip Thomas, Olivia Colletti, Juan Rodriguez, Brittany Kliesen, Ronell McNeal, Taylor Voss, Melissa Braun, Jordan Jones-Potts, Tyrell Strickland, Antonio Huerta, Josh Johnson and Charles Evans.

Photo by Daniel Potter

“I just think it’s a great event to bring faculty and students together outside of a classroom environment,” said Taylor Voss, junior business management major and ASG senator at CSU-Pueblo. “Something our campus desperately needs to do is support events that promote campus involvement and build those social relationships.”

Throughout the game faculty, staff and students volunteered in serving food to those who attended the game. Campus radio station Rev 89 also played music at the event.

“I’ve spent most of my career at a university for events just like this, which allow me to support my colleagues and our students while expressing my creativity,” said Cora Zaletel, executive director of external affairs at CSU-Pueblo.

By end of first half students were leading the game against the faculty and staff team.

At halftime, staff and students participated in a zombie dance in support of the Even Zombies Know campaign.

“It was an added benefit that our Thriller performance helped bring attention to the alcohol and drug office’s Even Zombies Know campaign,” Zaletel said.

Executive assistant to the president Trisha Macias said she is looking forward to next year’s event.

“It was a really fun experience and I was pleased to have a small part in it. I was very impressed with the players, the crowd and the enthusiasm everyone brought to the game,” she said.

Photo by Daniel Potter

Another halftime attraction was the flag mob performed by the CSU-Pueblo International Students Association to promote the 77th Annual International Food and Culture Extravaganza, which will be held on April 9 in OUC Ball Room at 5 p.m.

“It was a great opportunity provided to us by Quatisha Franklin to carry out the first ever international flag mob at CSU-Pueblo,” said Annie Williams, director of center for international programs at CSU-Pueblo. “We were honored by the standing ovation given to us by President Lesley Di Mare and other faculty and staff members.”

The second half brought a twist to the game, where staff players like Kevin Coates changed the direction. The comeback ultimately led faculty and staff team to win.

“I felt pretty good. The Michael Jackson Thriller halftime dance was so awesome. The faculty and staff team winning is a plus as well. Next year, my hope is to have more CSU-Pueblo students attend,” Franklin said.

Photo courtesy of Bou Amaya

CSU-Pueblo’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has emerged as one of the most active and well-known student organization on campus.

Started in 2008 on the campus of CSU-Pueblo, FCA has grown tremendously throughout the years.

“FCA has been operating since 2008 and was formerly called FCT (Fellowship of Christian Thunderwolves),” said Trever Hess, a junior industrial engineering major and FCA’s student leader.

“However, in fall of 2013, we decided to change our name to FCA so students could identify with and a more familiar name when they transitioned from high school to college,” he said.

Along with the name change, FCA’s membership has also drastically increased over the years.

“When FCA started there were only about 20 people, but it has doubled in size,” said Alyxx Sanchez, a senior mass communications major at CSU-Pueblo and FCA member. “It’s great to see new faces come in each week as a testament to what God is doing in the university community.”

Bou Amaya, a senior mass communications and English major and FCA’s team lead said the organization attracted a high volume of members in 2013.

“To our surprise, we grew from twelve to thirty within about two weeks in fall 2013.  As the year progressed, we maintained a number of about 30 students per week.  Since last year, our organization has grown even more and we now have about 40 students involved in FCA,” Amaya said.

Instead of having a set group of officers including president and vice president, FCA consist of a team of student leaders who have been running this student organization successfully for past six years on campus.

“As a leader of FCA, my major roles consist of contacting our members on a weekly basis, setting up the room, leading worship at the beginning of each meeting and managing our announcement board,” Amaya said. “I also speak at some of our meetings and if we don’t bring in a speaker, one of the leaders will prepare a message to share.”

The team leads said they believe the reason FCA has been so successful at CSU-Pueblo campus is the impact it has on the students.

“I believe FCA has given student athletes to come and share their relationship with Christ and it has also given them somewhere to go with all the stresses of school and sports,” said Chance Rodriquez, junior exercise science major and football player at CSU-Pueblo. “It has also impacted their lives forever by created relationship with others and giving them friends.”

FCA was also honored to receive the nomination in the “student organization of the year” category during last year’s CSU-Pueblo Student Leadership Awards, and is hopeful to stand in the same position again this year.

“I am hopeful for FCA in the upcoming Student Leadership Awards, but no matter what I know FCA has been a great impact on me individually and for other student athletes,” Hess said. “In just three years with a new fresh style of leadership, FCA has more than tripled its size making it one of the fastest growing student organizations on campus.”

CSU-Pueblo alum and FCA’s former student lead Zach Farrell said the organization was the highlight of his time at CSU-Pueblo.

“FCA provided me with an opportunity to grow with a community of friends that shared in my Christian beliefs,” Farrell said. “Every week we had an opportunity to hang out with one another and seek the Lord together. A lot of the friends I have made I still keep in touch with and I now have a chance to practice my faith in the military.”