A look at the past, present and the future with next year’s ASWSUV president and vice president, Davina Cepeda and Ana Betancourt
Every year, the students of WSU Vancouver vote for members of the student leadership organization, the Associated Students of Washington State University Vancouver. After a nullified election last year and a subsequent special election, Davina Cepeda and Ana Betancourt were elected president and vice president of ASWSUV for the 2019-20 academic year. Because of their recent coming into their new roles, The VanCougar sat down to ask them a few questions.
Q: What was your initial feeling when you heard you were elected for ASWSUV?
- Davina: I was pretty much in shock. There was one point where I couldn’t hear anything and there was another point where I was really elated and there was another point when Vince [current ASWSUV president] caught me tearing up a little bit. It was multiple emotions in the span of five minutes.
- Ana: I was numb. I was telling Davina I had a good feeling about this election but I didn’t want to jinx it. I was [at the election results] via FaceTime because I was in Olympia for my internship and I was with the Director of Legislative Affairs from Western [Western Washington University] and I heard him screaming and I was like, what? I was numb.
Q: How do you feel your campaign was different from that of the other ticket?
- Davina: I feel like our campaign really related off of our experience. Whether it’s through [my experience with] ASWSUV or Ana’s community engagement experience. I feel like we used our experience to help formulate our campaign.
- Ana: I believe that ours was different because we focused on what we are currently doing, what we did and what we will continue to do. It wasn’t so much of ‘if we win we are going to do this’ it was ‘if we win we will continue to further our work,’ whether it be within ASWSUV, WSUV and outside in the community.
Q: Davina, given your past experience with ASWSUV elections, what are your feelings toward this past election and the upcoming year?
- Davina: There was a lot of respect during this election cycle. There was an underlying respect between both tickets. Both tickets knew we were both women of color so there’s no bullshit between us at all.
Q: Ana, you are a single mother who is very busy. Despite this, do you feel that you have the time commitment needed to be ASWSUV vice president?
- Ana: Absolutely. This far I’ve shown nothing but [my] full potential. I’ve shown that even though I’m a single mother, I am capable of doing this and more.
Q: How do you feel your prior work experience in ASWSUV will benefit your positions in the presidency and vice presidency?
- Davina: After hitting the ground running this year we already know what to expect, at least with our executive staff and also what we see in Senate. We’re still open to a variety of projects and ideas but we will also carry on [with] our own agendas For me, it’s growing and defining the executive staff team.
- Ana: … Working with the DOLA to continue working on the bills that didn’t pass this year and work with Senate, because I know we have a lot of things going on, such as the parking survey. Definitely continue doing the work and not just stopping what we’re doing now.
Q: This past year has brought a high turnover rate to ASWSUV. What do you have planned to ensure a healthy and communicable work environment in the next year.?
- Ana: We talked about bringing the team into a very non-professional setting where we could touch on things we need to improve on together, like learning how to take criticism in a positive way. We also talked about taking a little bit of time and doing a lot of team bonding, whether it be once every two weeks or once a month, to really build those connections with our team.
- Davina: To add to that, [we want] to make sure they’re [ASWSUV staff] working in a respectful environment, but also to continue to make sure that they’re efficient and productive with their work. Even if Ana and I have these ideas, we would be welcome to any ideas that our team would have, so that way their ideas feel like they’re respected and they’re heard. At least for me, I want this experience [to be] something they [ASWSUV staff] could transfer to their real-life work experience especially, post graduation.
Q: Once you two take office, what will be your first action items and plans?
- Davina: To really solidify our team. That would be executive staff and Senate. Really, to make sure we have a solid team, a great foundation and then from there the agenda is up to the entire team. Senate will have their own bills that they will push through, then executive staff will have our own type of agenda.
- Ana: We really want to sit down with our team and look at the major dates on the calendar and really focus on those for next year, such as March 8th, which is International Women’s Day. So, doing key events like that. Also, solidifying our legislative agenda and continue to work on what was left [from] this year for sure.
Q: What are some of your biggest priorities in the upcoming year?
- Ana: For me, it’s definitely bringing the community to WSUV. In Olympia, I have learned a lot of the resources we have for students. Yet I’ve never heard of any of those resources at WSUV. So I will definitely focus on bringing more resources that are outside the community to WSUV students.
- Davina: One of my biggest priorities would be to connect with all the administration of each department, which would include Student Affairs, since they will be getting new leadership. Then the Office of Diversity [Diversity Center] as well as all the vice-chancellors in the cabinet. [I want to] connect with them so I can gather more information and use that information, whether it be data, survey results or budget information to help fulfill our agenda in ASWSUV.