The potential politicians of Pierce Presidential canidate from abroad provides new solutions

STORIES BY: NICK MARTINEZ Feature Editor @NickEsai

In her youth, the only future

Aleksandra Alimova saw for herself was being a young mother in Uzbekistan.

That all changed when her mother brought her to California four years ago. Now, she has the aspirations to pursue a career in law.

“But the people who actually have a chance to leave, they leave, but I’m not trying to say its a bad country,” Alimova said. “Here I have so many opportunities and if I would’ve stayed there, I would probably be married by the age of 22 and have kids.”

Alimova is a political science student at Pierce College, and is making use of her new oppertunities by running for ASO president.

When first coming here, learning an entirely new language was the most difficult part of Alimova’s transition to a new country.

“I did not know even one word in English,” Alimova said. “I learned English here in high school, I would watch the news on tv, and I didnt have any Russian friends. They were all American so they would always fix my english, fix my grammar and tell me how to say certain things.”

Alimova describes how she first became apart of ASO as a senator.

“I became a senator in fall 2018 and I’m also the chair of their Welfare Committee with my friend, and I’m helping her out with some events coming up in May,” Alimova said. “We are planning an event called ‘No Weights, No Worries’, where we all workout with just resistance bands. As part of the welfare committee we thought that this would be a good way to benefit student’s health.”

Alimova describes why she believes she should be ASO president.

“I believe I can make a difference and make student voices heard because students’ voices are really important. We have so much power that we don’t know about and I want to make sure that all students know about it, even the minorities, because I’m a part of a minority,”

Alimova said. “I feel like even though we’re all different, we still can be united by this institution and we all can benefit even though we come from different backgrounds.”

The current ASO President, Isha Pasricha, describes what it has been like working with Alimova.

“She has been interested in being the president since the beginning,” Pasricha said. “She’s been very observant about how meetings run and what I do with my job as she’s had a very personal experience with me. So, she is very well versed with this job already and I really admire how straightforward she is. She will tell you to your face something like ‘I think that is wrong and it shouldn’t be that way’ and that’s what a president needs to do sometimes.”

Along with this, Pasricha adds that Alimova has been a great addition to ASO.

“She’s very determined and a focused woman, she’s a very strong headed person,” Pasricha said.

“We need a student leader who encourages her peers to do better and to push them out of their comfort zone and navigate their ways around society or a school and like reach the highest limits of their potential. I’m not going to say she is just like me, or I see myself in her, but she in her own way is unique and brings a very new mix to the table.”

Politics extend beyond Pierce’s campus, and Alimova is pretty familiar with American politics, with the Constitution being her favorite piece of American legislature.

“I love the Constitution and it makes me cry,” Alimova said. “Because can you imagine it was written hundreds of years ago and we still use it, and the laws are still obeyed, it just blows my mind.

It’s basically the main thing why America is America today.”

After switching her major, Alimova is now majoring in political science, and describes what direction she wants to take with her life..

“I was computer science major originally, but last semester I switched to political science because it just felt that that’s what I want to do, and then go to a law school afterwards,” Alimova said.

Alimova also adds that being part of ASO will help her peruse her possible profession in the future.

“Even running as a president right now will give me a certain degree of experience being in law school, Plus being a lawyer is not only about experience, but it’s, it’s about personality,” Alimova said.

“I see myself as a lawyer because I have that drive and I really enjoy it.”

Chair of Events, Nicole Alfaro, said that Alimova is already concentrating on fixing issues on campus.

“At our meetings, she always says ‘Our parking sucks,’” Alfaro said. “She asks about when they are going to do refillable water stations, and she’s not even president yet, and she’s already working on that, which is pretty amazing.”

Students can vote through their LACCD portal until the deadline on April 29.