By Virginia Thomas
News Assistant
Mason aims for class unity and service
Her eyebrows are tense as she utters a sympathetic, “oh no,” when her dorm mate coughs. Clad in pink, red and white pajamas for a late-night interview, she sets down the quart of cran-grape juice she’s drinking to turn and see if the sick girl is OK.
Joanna Mason can’t quite squeeze into the mold of a stereotypical New Yorker. She lacks the accent and the aggressive persona that have come to be associated with natives of the Big Apple. Mason would rather talk about her relationships with people than her high school achievements, even when campaigning for freshman president. A trace of her Manhattan upbringing surfaces only when she walks to class, and her friends lag behind and gasp for breath.
If elected, she’ll have several key goals, two of which are bringing the class together and serving.
“I’m really big on service, so it would be really great if we could have an event where we did service and became unified, and had fun,” Mason said.
She hopes to organize other events as well, and wisely spend the freshmen class’ $4,500 budget.
Mason has several reasons for running.
“Mainly, I’m running because I really love this school and I really like our class,” she said. “I really want to be involved in representing our grade as our leader.”
Mason is taken with her class, and sees a lot of smart, nice and unselfish people in it.
“I’m impressed by the eagerness of our grade to be servants and fulfill the mission of our school,” she said. “I’m excited for us to get integrated into our community and make an impact.”
Part of her drive to make a difference came from her high school experiences. Two summers ago, she volunteered at a children’s camp in upstate New York, where inner-city kids were brought out of their environment and allowed to enjoy a week of playing sports, doing arts and crafts, and learning about God. However, she does have several qualifications for the leadership position. She’s handled leadership roles before, such as starting and leading a Bible study in her secular, unreceptive school.
Also, “I’m organized … and I’ve got time. I’m only taking 13 units this semester, so I can be dedicated to it (SGA),” Mason said.
Mason said the first year is especially important for students to get involved.
“If in our sophomore year a bunch of people are going abroad, and in our junior and senior years we’re thinking about our careers, this is the year when we get to explore Pepperdine and be involved and really get to know one another,” she said.
Ramos wants more mixers for Pep
Abel Ramos didn’t want to run for class president. The thought actually didn’t cross his mind until he got to Pepperdine and got bored.
“I came, my first week went by, and I just sat in my room,” he said. Other than the occasional mixer or movie night, “It was just dead after school started.”
He and his roommate were talking about how boring they think it is here, and his roommate, who was running for frosh senator, told him about SGA.
“I was thinking, OK, we live here, why do we have to drive to Santa Monica or L.A. to do something? Ramos said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could just walk down the street? I want to help change that, to give my ideas to the people who have the power to put stuff like that on.”
He’d like to see more barbecues, dances, movie nights and other mixers. If elected, “hopefully the six other people (senators) will be feeling what I’m saying about being bored on campus, and we’ll come together and put on tight events,” he said.
Ramos hopes the events would be fun for the new friends he’s made here. “I think our freshman class is really cool. They’re chill, really nice, really down to earth,” he said. “I’ve never had people I called real friends before. That’s one thing about Pepperdine, there’s a lot of cool people.”
He said in high school, he only hung out with a couple guys.
“I had a nice truck and did well in school, so people called me conceited,” he said.
His truck is one of Ramos’ prize possessions. It’s a baby blue 1994 GMC 1500 4WD with a 12 inch lift, and he paid for it by himself. He’s worked since he was 11 years old, as a bus boy and a server in a Mexican restaurant. This summer he worked in the fields pitching watermelons and bell peppers near his home town, Bakersfield. He’s also paying for his own tuition and living expenses.
“My parents have a lot of their own bills and their own things to pay for, so I don’t want to be a burden on them,” Ramos said. “They’ve raised me until now, and they instilled in me that I need an education.”
Besides being a hard worker, Ramos would bring leadership experience to SGA, if elected. He was in the student government at his high school for two years, and was the president of the International Club and the Key Club.
Ramos values character of those who maintain leadership roles.
“I’m definitely a man of integrity and respect,” he said. “I keep my word.”
September 11, 2003