Meet the 2019-2020 ISA executive body candidates
Maria Ly
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, from 4-6 p.m. in 124 Trafton Center, the International Student Association will host a debate for the candidate teams running for president and vice president for 2019-2020.
Prior to the debate, the Reporter sat down with this year’s candidates for the ISA president and vice president to find out more about their platforms and the goals they have in mind.
Why do you think you are the best suited for the position?
Sanjaya & Mohammad: From our freshman year, we have been involved in MNSU, advocating the students’ needs and in this process. We gained a lot of experience and had direct impact on student life. We are confident after all those years and knowing many people here on campus, I am ready to take again the responsibility and to apply leadership skills in this organization to run smoothly and with the great success and better for an international student who are here and willing to come here.
Domink & Arnavee: We believe that we as a team are best suited for the positions of President and Vice President, since we are both highly involved on campus and connected cross-culturally. We love working with different people, which is reflected in these involvements on and off campus. Our biggest advantage is that we are current board members of the International Student Association with Dominik being the Event Coordinator and Arnavee being the Community Engagement Officer. This has given us the insight and knowledge needed to successfully lead this organization in the future.
Why do you want to run?
Domink & Arnavee: Holding the positions of President and Vice President of the International Student Association will allow us to gain the power for bigger change. Being in contact and working with International students from various parts of the world throughout our different involvements has led us to the insight that we want to do more for the international community. With being one of the biggest populations on campus, we as internationals should have more power to advocate for ourselves. Thus, we want to use this chance to create the change that leads us to a more powerful community, and we believe that being “United through diversity,” we can achieve that together.
Sanjaya & Mohammad: In simple words, we want to run for the betterment of international students. Advocate, represent and have a positive impact; those are our main goals.
What are some of your goals you plan to pursue if elected?
Sanjaya & Mohammad:Our goals are:
- Creating more Cultural Contribution opportunities for every international student.
- Creating more leadership opportunities for the international community.
- Counseling and advising for every international student so that they can share their problems.
- Improving facilities for international health services.
- Re-opening ISA Olympics for international students to participate and show their talent among the international students.
- Collaborating with the Student Government for Maverick textbook reserve program so that every international student can have access to additional textbooks without any cost.
- Collaboration with different communities and universities so that international students can show their talent, not only here at MNSU, but also at different universities in Minnesota.
- Proper utilization of school resources.
Domink & Arnavee: If elected, we want to connect international students better with the different departments and organizations on campus. We want to be a resource for them, which they can utilize whenever they have an issue and need support. Moreover, we want to give students without an RSO the possibility to show off their cultures to stop the underrepresentation they experience, but also re-connect the current RSOs present. In addition to that, we plan to increase the support of our international LGBTQ+ community on campus. With all these goals we want to create a stronger international community that is united through their diversity.
Voting will take place on Thursday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
Header photos courtesy of Dominik Drabent, Arnavee Maltare, Sanjaya Balami & Mohammad Sajal.