ASO vice president steps down Still making a di erence

Kitty Rodriguez Features Editor

her dedication to school and to the Club Council.

“I’m so impressed with her. She attends classes here and at Valley College, and she decided to take this position. She’s shown how coordinated she is,” Oloo said.

“She’s very young, but she’s somebody who’s up for any challenge,” Oloo said.

On top of all of her other endeavors, Ruwanpathirana takes time to help students one-on-one as an English tutor at Pierce.

She also loves math and chemistry, both of which are heavily applied in chemical engineering.

“I’m a nerd,” Ruwanpathirana said with a laugh.

Outside of her busy scholastic schedule, Ruwanpathirana is an avid music fan.

She enjoys going to concerts, where she has first learned about advertising and promotion.

She played the piano for about six years, though now she claims to be out of practice with the instrument.

“[Piano] was a hobby. I didn’t want to major in it. I just wanted to enjoy it,” Ruwanpathirana said.

The elected ASO vice president Jonathan Vazquez recently stepped down from his position as officer and becomes the new clerk for the Associated Student Organization at Pierce College.

Vazquez prepared for the semester to the best of his best abilities, but it did not take long for him to realize that he was not meeting the required 2.0 GPA for the position. Although Vazquez was unable to fulfill the vice presidential role, he still sees this as a learning opportunity with friend Alex Oloo assuming his responsibilities.

“So far so good, it’s interesting,” Vasquez said. “It gives me a better responsibility and I feel like I still have a part of the student government.” impressed with Ruwanpathirana in her short time as Club Council president.

Now as clerk Vazquez helps maintain the student organization by writing the minutes in which he attends the academic senate meetings on campus and records times the information discussed. The information is then made into a list that is given to all the senators in ASO and is reviewed in their meetings and kept on file by staying on top of what is going on at Pierce.

“She’s responsible, motivated, and Club Rush this year was probably better than it was last fall,” Smith said.

“In the fall, we renew charters for clubs, and it’s a challenge to get that done.”

Ruwanpathirana was also a member of several other clubs last semester, including the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society and the International Students Club. She said that being in those clubs helped inspire her to pursue the Club Council presidency.

However, her main inspiration to become Club Council president came from her time in the ASO senate.

The previous Club Council president also motivated her, and showed her how she was able to manage school work and extra curricular activites.

“It was my decision. I knew I wanted to be president,” Ruwanpathirana said.

“It’s a lot of duties and responsibilities, but I don’t take it as a burden.”

Straight-A student and a chemical engineering major, Ruwanpathirana wants to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley. She wants to inspire her peers to believe that it is possible to balance their classes with multiple extracurricular activities and a social life.

“I have big dreams,” Ruwanpathirana said through a smile.

ASO President Alex Oloo commended Ruwanpathirana for

Ruwanpathirana has a brother who she currently lives with. Their parents are also residents of the United States, but they are currently living in Sri Lanka for business reasons.

Accepting and overcoming challenges is the name of the game for Ruwanpathirana.

She wants to do everything she can to help her school and hopes that all students appreciate Pierce as highly as she does.

“I want students to remember Pierce College,” Ruwanpathirana said.

“When they graduate from USC or UCLA, I want them to say: ‘We are Pierce Brahmas.”

“It was a change but its also another way to suite ASO and to actually participate in it. I help keep track of the student government,” Vasquez said.

Vazquez would still consider rerunning for vice president for next semester depending of his class schedule but has been a part of ASO for the past three semesters. He currently is working towards transferring to the University of California, Davis where he ideally wants to attend and enjoys spending time with his friends in his free time. The new ASO vice president was announced Tuesday afternnon at the Great Hall.

“I want to see the future of ASO and how well grow from last semester,” Vasquez said.