Senator Spotlight: Margarita Ruiz
Off-Campus Senator, Margarita Ruiz is an Applied Sociology senior at Minnesota State University, Mankaot who dedicates her time to bettering the lives of students at the University. As Ruiz holds this position within the Student Government, she is also on the Student Basic Needs Committee.
Outside of the Student Government, Ruiz has participated in College of Democrats in the past.
Ruiz decided to become a Senator for various reasons. “There are a lot of voices on campus that I feel are not always heard. It’s important that you take a stand on behalf of people who can’t necessarily speak up for themselves. Being a part of Student Government is a really good opportunity for me to get more involved with campus. I never felt a really close connection to campus and until I joined.”
Being a member of Student Government allows its senators to create projects to improve campus life. Ruiz is taking this opportunity to its fullest potential with her project.
“I’m the Chair of the Student Basic Needs Committee and I’m hoping to let the University know that the efforts we are currently working on are important. Some of these include food insecurity and mental health issues, as many students face these problems.”
Ruiz also emphasized that the upcoming student government and University President pay attention to these issues and are brainstorming solutions.
When talking about her biggest takeaway she has learned from the Student Senate Ruiz said, “There are a lot of issues on campus that need strong voices to help address them. Since I am a senior I won’t be joining the student government next year as a senator, but I’m hoping whoever is reading this can feel empowered enough to try student government. I’m hoping they try to work at some of these issues that really need strong voices.”
Ruiz pointed out other advantages to joining this student-led organization.
“You get to meet a lot of awesome people who are also really dedicated to helping the campus community and making it overall a better place for students. It’s a great experience to get your hands dirty figuratively and actually address these issues that affect the student population.”
Moving into her future, Ruiz is glad that being involved in the Student Senate has given her the opportunity to improve her public speaking skills and teamwork skills. When working with many people in the Senate and around the community, it gives her a good leg-up on how to do group work and reach out to people she needs to get in contact with.