Photo by Marisa Padilla
The student body elected Angel To as next year’s Student Government Association President in the elections March 19. To held a position on SGA during the fall semester as a Junior Class Senator and plans to oversee multiple resolutions this year that will benefit the student body.
Q: Why did you decide to run for President of SGA?
A: I had a really transformative experience at Pepperdine, and I feel as though a lot of students should be able to experience that as well. I feel there are some improvements that Pepperdine can make in order to, I guess, help students reach their potential and discover the gifts that they have. I think SGA can be a facilitator of creating more leaders on campus, because there’s so many of them. I think the role of the President is to create … more leaders under the President so that they can serve as leaders, who can affect more leaders on campus. It’s me creating more leaders to have a greater impact. It’s bringing out everyone’s inner leader.
Q: How long have you been involved in student government?
A: Junior year was my first year. I did some in high school my senior year, but I had enough experience to see the areas that need to be further addressed and how to move forward certain initiatives, how to address some of the issues that my friends [and other students] had told me about. It’s not as if I’ve been on it since freshman year, but I definitely am able to have a better grasp of what SGA should do for the next year because of my experience.
Q: What are you looking forward to most for the upcoming year?
A: I am looking forward to policy stuff. I’m looking forward to different dining options. Something I really wanted to work on, and I don’t know how well it will be received, but I’m thinking about having different junior organizations on campus that are not affiliated partake in Greek philanthropies. Maybe having SGA cover the cost of what it takes to create teams, so that will be one way to engage unaffiliated groups, as well as encourage more student participation. I have heard of a lot of students that want to have participation in philanthropies, but they feel like they have to be Greek affiliated to do that.
Q: What are some policies you are passionate about and hope to help pass?
A: I definitely want to work on the loneliness initiative and the spiritual community at Pepperdine. Im hoping to work with The Mountain, hopefully, as well as other student organizations to create more small group communities on campus. Just to facilitate dialogue, not only on Christianity, but on other faiths and different cultures. Although we have a diverse range of students at Pepperdine, a lot of the time I feel like some students feel as expressed on campus. I definitely want to be as inclusive as possible and reach out to students who are more reserved, in one way or another.
Q: What do you think you can bring to the position?
A: I will definitely work on meeting more of the student body and going to more student activities, going to more Board activities, going to BSA and LSA activities, just saying SGA supports this organization. I’m here, I would like to meet you. I know it’s another organization’s event, but you know, maybe you’d like to see more of these kinds of events on campus. I want to be a little more interactive with the student body in different ways. I also want to work on creating a better family within the [SGA] organization. I think E-board did a really good job of pushing forward initiatives, but at times it felt very disconnected between the senators and the E-board. So to bridge that gap, as well as to mentor the students who are in SGA to help them grow in their leadership skills so that they would be able to better serve Pepperdine in the future.
Q: What do you believe will be your biggest challenge as President?
A: I think my biggest challenge will be reaching the student who doesn’t want to be reached out to. Not the apathetic but those who don’t partake in student activities, who don’t have school spirit, who don’t want to be engaged or can’t find an outlet or are too lazy. I think that will be really difficult to get more engagement and participation from students, and so I’m thinking about ways I can make it more interesting and fun. Something that people just actually enjoy that doesn’t just revolve around food. I want to create experiences that students will remember and look forward to annually.
Q: How did you end up at Pepperdine?
A: When I was applying for different colleges I was really unsure where I was called to go at this point in my life. My faith was my top priority, and it still is now, but I really wanted to go to a place where I fit spiritually. I know Pepperdine was not even on my radar until my pastor had said something to me about it, and so I came to look at the campus. Immediately when I set foot there, [I thought] maybe it’s the view, maybe it’s Malibu, but there was this overwhelming peace that registered in me. That’s how I knew. Although a lot of my friends went to Ivy Leagues and to these prestigious institutions, I was more than happy to apply to Pepperdine and call that place my home.
Q: What is your major and what do you hope to do after you graduate?
A: I am an International Studies major with a specialization in Economics. I don’t want to say this and not have it happen, but I’m hoping to do a Fulbright in Korea and get my Masters in International Relations from grad school. Further along the line, I’d like to work in an international organization for something like a World Bank. I’ve always been really passionate about leading a life of service, which is what one of Pepperdine’s main pillars is in its mission. I’ve always been really passionate about serving the impoverished and those who are unable to reach out for help. Economics provides a tangible way to do that, more or less. So I just hope to serve others on an international level.
Q: What are you involved in outside of SGA?
A: Oh gosh. I was a first-year seminar mentor. I did NSO and am part of Model UN. I am a violinist for Celebration Chapel and The Well. I am a club convo leader and a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. I also did Project Serve, and I think that might be it. It’s way too much, but that’s what I have.
Q: What is something you would like the student body to know about you?
A: I’m really easy to scare, so sudden things that pop out at me, I scream at the top of my lungs. I’m not clumsy, but I am slightly unbalanced. So when I walk and people touch me or nudge me, I have the tendency to kind of just fall over. It’s really pathetic. I trip frequently when I walk. And apparently I make really ridiculously funny faces. I like making sound effects, even though they’re so unnecessary.
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Follow Katrina Kirsch on Twitter: @Katrina_Kirsch
